African Commission: Joint NGO call to reinstate cancelled human rights side event

Schedule to be held on 12 May 2026, at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Conference Centre (SDKJ-ICC), the side event was organised as part of civil society’s advocacy around the periodic report review scheduled for the 87th session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)—a member State of the African Union and party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

In fact, the organisers were informed by the Conference Center late on 11 May that they would not be able to host the side event despite the prior booking, transfer of a deposit and the confirmation of the event room.

This was an unilateral cancellation of this specific side event during the 87th session of the ACHPR by the  SDKJ-ICC with a non-notification of the justification of the cancellation to the Commission.  Although the ACHPR Secretariat announced the event in the plenary, it did not take place because the SDKJ-ICC abruptly cancelled the room booking, while other events in the same room had not been cancelled, and no alternative room was offered. This appears to be a targeted silencing of Sahrawi human rights defenders.

This cancellation risks undermining the Commission’s commitment to openness, participation, and civic space protection, and compromises the civic space that the ACHPR is committed to uphold as part of its mandate. Any attempts to exert external pressure to undermine the Commission’s independence and silence civil society are unacceptable and must be rejected.

We therefore respectfully request that the Commission take urgent steps to ensure the meaningful participation and safety of Sahrawi human rights defenders during the current session and support the reinstatement of the room booking so that the side event may take place on 14 May in the Conference Centre.

Signatories (updated on a rolling basis):

1. AAPSS
2. AARASD-France
3. ACAAPS Catalunya
4. African Youth Congress (AYC)
5. Against the Criminalization of Civic Action in Tunisia
6. Arabako SEADen Lagunen Elkartea
7. Asociación de Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de Segovia
8. Asociación de Amistad Venezuela – Argelia
9. Assemblea Nacional Catalana
10. Associação de Amizade Portugal-Sahara Ocidental (AAPSO)
11. Association des Familles des Prisonniers et Disparus Sahraouis (AFAPREDESA)
12. Association for the Protection of Natural Resources and the Environment of Western Sahara (AREN)
13. Association tunisienne des femmes democrates
14. Associazione Jaima Sahrawi ODV
15. ASZHST
16. Centre for Human Rights, , University of Pretoria
17. CIDAC – Centro de Intervenção para o Desenvolvimento Amílcar Cabral
18. Città Visibili APS
19. Climate Activist Defenders – CAD
20. Coalition Ivoirienne des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CIDDH)
21. Front Line Defenders
22. Graal
23. HEGOA
24. Humanists International
25. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
26. IBTYKAR
27. Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa
28. Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa
29. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
30. Isacom
31. La ligue pour la protection des prisonniers sahraouis dans les prisons marocaines (LPPS)
32. Martin Etxea Elkartea
33. Movaps (Movimientos Valenciano de Ayuda al Pueblo Saharaui)
34. Movimiento por los presos políticos saharauis en cárceles marroquíes (MPPS))
35. Mundubat
36. Nidala organisation of non violence and peace in Western Sahara
37. NomadsHRC
38. NOVACT
39. Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)
40. Plataforma Internacional de Mujeres por el Sáhara Occidental (PIMSO)
41. Plataforma Valenciana de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Saharaui
42. Psychologues du monde
43. REDHAC
44. Revolutionary Socialist Movement-RSM
45. Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights
46. Saharauische Diaspora in Deutschland (Sahrawi Diaspora in Germany)
47. Sahrawi observatory for natural resources and environmental protection
48. Skyline International for Human Rights (SIHR)
49. Solidarity Rising
50. Synergía – Initiatives for Human Rights
51. UESARIO
52. Uganda Solidaarity Movement with Western Sahara
53. West African Human Rights Defenders Network