Screenshot of ACHPR Live Stream
Following the presentation of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders’ Intersessional Report, ISHR delivered a statement calling on his mandate to release his long-awaited report on reprisals and remind States of their obligations to ensure a safe environment for defenders to conduct their activities.
In his report on activities he undertook during the intersessional period, Commissioner Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals, noted a worrisome degradation of the situation of human rights defenders on the continent. His mechanism received complaints related to the arrest and arbitrary detention of human rights defenders, threats and attacks against leaders and members of the LGBTIQ+ community, judicial harassment, reprisals and intimidation of human rights defenders. Other complaints related to murder, abduction, enforced disappearance, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment of human rights defenders, irregularities and provisions restricting civic space in adopted laws, decrees and regulations and restrictions on freedom of association, assembly and peaceful demonstration. While recalling the African Commission’s Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa, Commissioner Lumbu urged States to make use of them. He called on national human rights institutions and NGOs to disseminate them widely and monitor their implementation.
In its statement following the presentation of the report, ISHR called on the Special Rapporteur to release its long-awaited report on reprisals considering increasing threats defenders who collaborate with African regional human rights mechanisms face. While remaining committed to providing any support to the mechanism for this report to be released, ISHR believes that publishing it will be a step forward in the protection and promotion of defenders’ rights. The statement further urged the mandate to take proactive measures to counter the human rights violations committed against environmental defenders in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Uganda. In the latter country in particular, the increase in attacks and human rights violations, including abductions and enforced disappearances, torture, ill-treatment and incommunicado detention, against environmental rights defenders is a cause for concern, with more than 192 such violations since 2021.
We call on your mandate and the Chair of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, the Environment and Human Rights Violations to make a joint visit to help Uganda better meet its obligations.Antoine Trembley, Africa Fellow at ISHR
ISHR statement also noted the significant shrinkage of civic space in Angola, in particular through the repression and criminalisation of defenders and journalists, including the arrest of Laurinda Gouveia in January 2024 and the conviction of two activists for criminal association in 2022; the statement also highlighted restrictions on freedom of expression and association through the National Security Act, and attacks on trade unionists. In Côte d’Ivoire, the “Zero wubi” campaign has led to attacks on defenders of the rights of LGBTIQ+ people, many of whom are now hiding their residence. ISHR called on the Commission to remind States of their obligations to provide defenders with a legal and political environment conducive to the exercise of their activities in accordance with international law.
In 2024, national, regional, and international courts took action to protect and recognise the rights of human rights defenders. In this article, we explore some of the key cases that have shaped the legal landscape for those advocating for human rights.
Stolen Presidential elections, the use of deeply repressive tactics by State agents against real and perceived opponents, and the recent return of OHCHR to Caracas informed today’s dialogue on Venezuela between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council.
The Secretariat of the Declaration +25 marked the International Human Rights Defenders' Day on 9 December 2024 by launching a new video.
