NPWJ - The victory of Barak Obama: now a new era of respect for democracy and human rights

Press release in Italian
 
The victory of President-elect Barak Obama is an example of political democracy and capacity for change. The next President of the United States in his first speech after the historic vote yesterday touched his country and the world, claiming the command of hope against cynicism, the strength of the people in front of power, the forceful strength of dream and change, becoming spokesperson for all sectors of American society, irrespective of their
ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or otherwise.

Statement by Sergio Stanzani and Gianfranco Della’Alba, President and Secretary-General of No Peace Without Justice:

”Without thinking about an upheaval of the cornerstones of U.S. policy, there is no doubt that the extraordinary victory of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to produce significant change in U.S. policy regarding the issues of transnational politics, to which No Peace Without Justice has been committed for many years.

”We hope that the 44th President’s administration will be characterized by a positive approach towards the instruments of international criminal justice - such as the International Criminal Court, which was so strongly boycotted by the Bush administration.  We hope that it will demonstrate greater attention to the campaign for the elimination of female genital mutilation, which is still practised to different degrees in 28 countries, including Kenya, his country of origin.  Finally, we hope that it will bring reinforcement of the notion that the promotion of democracy must pass through the active support of local democracy activists, who are struggling, through non-violent means, to win spaces of freedom and recognition of human rights within authoritarian regimes, which would echo these historic elections we have just witnessed in the United States, which brought a record number of people into the political process”.