The 66th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights will be held online, from 13 July to 7 August 2020. The African Commission session will be preceded by the NGO Forum, which will be held online on 9 & 10 July 2020.
What will happen during the NGO Forum and 66th ordinary session of the African Commission?
The NGO Forum
The Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the Ordinary Sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), also known as the ‘NGOs Forum’ is an advocacy platform coordinated by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) to promote advocacy, lobbying and networking among and between human rights NGOs, for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. The NGOs Forum shares updates on the human rights situation in Africa by the African and international NGOs community with a view of identifying responses as well as adopting strategies towards the promotion and protection of human rights in the continent.
This session, will be a first in its format and will seek to keep civil society engaged in the work of the Commission.
Participants at the strategic workshop on the operationalisation of the Protection Mechanism for Defenders held on 24 and 25 April in Bamako, Mali, adopted an action plan to strengthen the national mechanism's capacity to protect defenders.
Local authorities in Geneva have announced their intention to place a permanent public monument paying tribute to persecuted human rights defenders, including the late Chinese human rights defender Cao Shunli. The move follows a civil society petition to have a bust made in honour of Cao placed in a prominent location in the city.
A newly-released confidential letter by a UN Special Rapporteur documents the disbarment of human rights lawyers in China and the tightening ideological control over lawyers and law firms. The UN expert denounces disappearances, closed-door trials, harassment of relatives, travel bans, and other abuses targeting human rights lawyers.
