Freedom of expression, assembly and association are key rights of civil society. They allow people from different backgrounds to express their opinions, to participate in public debate, to gather, to organise themselves for specific activities, to protest and make their voice been heard regarding the issues of societies.
In consideration of the importance of civic space rights, Wallace Nderu, the moderator of this panel, acknowledged that the effective protection of the rights of civic space is essential to facilitate the achievement of the mission of human rights defenders (HRDs) by creating a safe space where they can involve in human rights defence without fear of reprisals.
Despite the commitment to respect, protect and fulfil human rights by virtue of the different international instruments ratified by States at the international and regional levels, recent facts in East Africa countries, among others, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania as well as central Africa in Cameroon, seem in contradiction with these commitments.
For instance, on 6 December 2024, in Cameroon, the Minister of territorial administration took order 000120/A/MINAT, 000121/A/MINAT, 000122/A/MINAT, 000123/A/MINAT, and 000124/A/MINAT suspending some NGOs for three months. This suspension is still in force and has gone further by reducing the number of associations in the country from more than thousands of associations to 104 and enjoining some civil society organisations (CSO) from accessing their bank account.
In countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, HRDs and CSOs are charged with criminal offences to be prevented from freely proceeding with their activities. Kamau Ngugi, Chairperson of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network in Kenya, affirms that states of the East Africa are engaging in the “shared tactics of repressions” instead of creating a safe space for HRDs.
These restrictions can be found in several countries of the East region of Africa and raised concerns on the safe space for HRDs to continue being the voice of the voiceless.
This panel confirms the serious crackdown on the civic space in several countries in East Africa. Considering the non-alignment with international human rights standards, panelists called for collective solidarity of all human rights actors for the resolution of these situations that may extend to other regions of Africa if nothing is done to stop it.
This was an opportunity to also remind States to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of the necessity to adopt laws that protect HRDs in line with international standards.
