Credit: ACHPR
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) is currently holding its 53rd Ordinary Session, from April 9 to April 23, 2013 in Banjul, The Gambia. During the session, the Commission’s agenda will include public hearings on the human rights situation in Africa, the review individual complaints (“communications”), States’ reports, and activity reports, and the launch of a model law on access to information and General Comments on Article 14 of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Additionally, the NGO Forum, which convenes prior to ACHPR sessions, met from April 6 to April 8, 2013 in Banjul.
Activity Reports
During this session, ACHPR Members and Special Mechanisms will submit reports detailing the activities in which they participated in recent months. While a public session on the Human Rights Situation in Africa made up the bulk of the session agenda through Wednesday, April 10, the Commission will address cooperation with national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as State reports and individual complaints before turning to the activity reports on Thursday.
This session, Commissioners Catherine Dupe Atoki and Lucy Asuagbor submitted their activity reports, including conferences they attended or chaired and their role in those events.
Additionally, the African Commission’s special mechanisms submitted reports detailing their recent activities, important developments relevant to their mandates, remaining challenges, and recommendations for improvement. These included the:
- report of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of People Living with HIV and Those at Risk, Vulnerable to and Affected by HIV
- report of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention, Med S.K. Kaggwa, including a mission to the Republic of Chad
- report of Soyata Maiga, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa
- report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Faith Pansy Tlakula, including the model law on access to information
- report of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and Communities in Africa, including a country visit to Tanzania, a forum held with the African Development Bank, and an exchange with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- report of the Working Group on Rights of Older Persons and People with Disabilities, including the status of a Draft Protocol on the Rights of Older Persons
Model Law on Access to Information
On Friday, April 12, 2013, the ACHPR will also launch the Model Law on Access to Information, which aims to “establish voluntary and mandatory mechanisms or procedures to give effect to the right of access to information in a manner which enables persons to obtain access to information of public bodies, relevant private bodies and private bodies as swiftly, inexpensively and effortlessly as is reasonably possible.” Model Law, Art. 3(1)(b). The ACHPR strove to provide detailed guidance on legislation States must enact to promote access to information while leaving the specifics to the States themselves. [South African History Archive] However, the Model Law would require States Parties to publish certain types of information, such as interpretations of laws, policies, procedures and rules used by public officials, contracts entered into by public bodies, and public bodies’ annual budgets. Id. Art. 6. Each public body must also appoint an information officer, who will handle all requests for information pertaining to that body. Id., arts. 8, 11.
A working team of NGO and government bodies, including Article 19, Citizens Governance Initiative, Open Society Justice Initiative, South African History Archive, South Africa Human Rights Commission, and the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria helped draft the law, which the ACHPR adopted in February 2013. [Article 19] Some, such as Henry Maina, Director of Article 19 Eastern Africa, believe that the model law will “[give] impetus to more African countries to pass or initiate processes to enact comprehensive and progressive access to information laws.” [Article 19] Currently, only ten of the 54 African Union Member States have adopted any legislation ensuring access to information, and much of the legislation remains limited. [South African History Archive]
General Comments on Article 14 of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa
The ACHPR will official launch its General Comments on Article 14 of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa during the 53rd Ordinary Session. Article 14 of the Protocol ensures women the right to health, including reproductive health, and freedom from sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV. The General Comments are meant to provide guidance in interpreting Article 14 for States Parties and the ACHPR. [IJRC]
NGO Forum
The purpose of the NGO Forum is to improve communication between different non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and between NGO’s and the ACHPR in order to better promote and protect human rights. [ACDHRS] The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) organized this year’s NGO Forum with the purpose of increasing collaboration and cooperation between different NGOs and between NGOs and the Commission. [ACDHRS About the Forum] It also provides an opportunity for human rights practitioners to exchange practical information and experiences, with over 100 human rights practitioners from civil society, the United Nations, and the African Union in attendance. [All Africa] The Forum coincided with the ACDHRS’ annual African Human Rights Book Fair, further allowing human rights practitioners to share their publications. [via @IHRDA]
According to the Institute for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (IHRDA), Raymond Sock, a Justice on the Supreme Court of The Gambia, spoke at the opening ceremony, recognizing the large increase in the number of NGOs operating throughout Africa and the role they play in promoting and protecting human rights. However, he also noted that while human rights have improved in some areas of the continent, other areas continue to suffer significant human rights abuses. ACHPR Commissioner Atoki also reportedly stated the ACHPR recognizes the increased importance NGOs have in promoting and protecting human rights in the region, particularly through the Commission’s granting of observer status, which allows NGOs to participate in the Commission’s activities, including preparing of shadow reports and bringing individual cases before the Commission. See Resolution on the Cooperation between the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and NGOs having Observer Status with the Commission, para. 3. For more information on specific events at the NGO Forum, see @IHRDA.