Togo

Please provide us with your views on the state of peace in the country you will represent at the One Young World Summit.

 My country Togo has had a series of violent political upheavals during the past few years with the stalemate being the 2005 presidential elections that followed the death of the dictator who had ruled the country for 38 years. At least 500 people were confirmed killed during the electoral periods of 2005 in Togo and that has left a very severe scar on my country. Most of the massacres were perpetrated by the army and over 100,000 people fled Togo during that period. Although the country is now calm and things seem to have returned to normal, the peace is just apparent. People usually mistake the absence of violence with peace but they two are definitely not the same thing. People are still grieving and there has been a real attempt to correct the wrong. So peace in Togo is, I believe, elusive.

How do you think your work and/or activism contribute to a sustainable peace?

As a human rights activist, I advocate for democracy and the respect for civil liberties. I believe that governments should respect people’s rights to speak, assembly and the people must have a say in how they are governed. Democracy strengthens accountability and transparency and reduces injustice, corruption and unequal repartition of wealth which are usually the structural causes of conflicts and wars. As an activist, I advocate for democracy and I try to fight impunity by not only denouncing human rights abuses and exposing such acts but also by empowering my fellow youths and organizing them to demand justice when we are faced with abuse.