A Human Rights Defenders’ Guide to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was recently launched at the 51^st ordinary session of the African Commission, in the Gambia.

The guide is a joint initiative by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA).

A Human Rights Defenders’ Guide to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was recently launched at the 51^st ordinary session of the African Commission, in the Gambia.

The guide is a joint initiative by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA).

It is intended as a practical resource for human rights defenders in Africa. The guide informs defenders about the protections the African Commission offers and the progress it has made in the last twenty years in seeking to assist human rights defenders, through its case law, statements, urgent appeals and resolutions.

Ms Reine Alapini-Ganou, the African Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, underlines the central role that human rights defenders have to play in Africa’s future and the responsibility of the African Commission to work to protect them.

‘I hope this [guide], which I commend and recommend to you all, will serve to strengthen even further the work of the human rights defenders and their protection by the African Commission, towards the full realisation of human rights and dignity in Africa,’ she says.

The new publication is significant because it fills an information gap in the area of analyses of the progress of the African Commission’s protection mandate. ISHR hopes human rights defenders in Africa will find the guide useful as a tool to familiarise themselves with the African human rights system, the protection available through African Commission mechanisms, and how to best utilise these mechanisms.

Ms Alapini-Gansou was the keynote speaker at the event to launch the new publication. ISHR and IHRDA also presented copies of the guide to Secretary of the African Commission. 

The event was attended by Commissioners, State Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organisations.

Image (L to R): Clement Voulé (ISHR), Dr Mary Maboreke (Secretary General, African Commission) and Offah Mbale (Senior Legal Officer, African Commission)