The Nairobi Declaration for Detainee Telecommunications Rights was adopted at the final session of the CURE conference in Kenya on May 4, 2023. The news release below asserts detainee telecommunication rights.
CURE has distributed the Declaration internationally for endorsement.
Please return endorsements by organisations and individuals to: NairobiDecDetaineeTelecommRts@gmail.com
NEWS RELEASE
The 9th International CURE Conference in Nairobi Kenya, May 1-5, 2023.
International CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) had its 9th Conference on Human Rights & Criminal Justice Reform in Nairobi, Kenya, May 1-5. There were 95 participants representing 28 countries.
“We were overwhelmed with the response which included countries like Pakistan from the right and Cuba from the left”, commented Peter Onyango Olwal, the Coordinator of Pan Africa CURE.
“Also”, Onyango Olwal further explained, “many of the countries represented were from Africa and a large African committee was formed to start CURE country chapters to bring about prison reform.”
Finally, Onyango Olwal concluded that “the Kenya prison system could not have been more supportive of the conference. The two top prison officials spoke and arranged for conference participants to tour a prison. Both emphasized their goal that all people incarcerated must have ‘one bed and one mattress’”.
This most needed reform was echoed indirectly in the recommendations made below by the Conference to the world-wide entities that lock people up.
Universal human rights are inherent to every human being, and must be continually defended thorough advocacy, especially for those in detention and post-release. The death penalty and life sentences should be abolished while voting and telecommunication rights should be implemented.
Also, juveniles should be separated from adults and prison officials should collaborate as allies for more humane conditions. Each country should produce manuals which instruct staff on the needs of the incarcerated, especially concerning women.
Finally, restorative justice and diversion should become primary tools in a country’s criminal justice system.
For more information visit Pan Africa CURE web site.
Peter Onyango Olwal,
Coordinator of the Pan Africa CURE,
P. O Box 8701-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
Telephone: +254 724 944 181
Cited from: International CURE