Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Resistance and Remembrance
Local Solutions Have Global Impact
From Civic Engagement to Concrete Results in Guinea: Empowering Local Activists at the National Level Since its independence in 1958, Guinea has experienced ongoing cycles of violence characterized by mass human rights violations, violent political transitions and ethnic tensions that have been exacerbated by authoritarian rulers who allowed a culture of impunity to flourish. In 2008, a group of military officers led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara seized power after the death of the president and established the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), which went on to commit serious human rights abuses. On September 28, 2009, CNDD forces opened fire on a group of peaceful protestors – a massacre in which 156 civilians were killed and at least 109 women and girls were raped by security forces. The protest that preceded the September 28 Stadium Massacre, as it would come to be known, had been organized by civil society leaders and opposition party leaders to denounce a long delay in holding elections and the military’s refusal to hand over power to civilians.
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For GIJTR’s multi-phased project in Guinea, 12 CSO representatives—including survivors and journalists—participated in an exchange program in South Africa with additional participants from across the continent to learn about the successes and challenges of the Truth Commission in South Africa and gain exposure to regional approaches to advocacy, memorialization and truth-telling processes.
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