Resolution on Human Rights Defenders
We, the participants to the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights held in Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria from 7th to 9th November, 2008,
Noting with concern the alarming number of obstacles and violations faced by human rights defenders in the States parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights of 1986;
Recalling the provisions of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the 1999 Grand Bay Declaration and Plan of Action, the 2003 Kigali Declaration and all other legal instruments which guarantee the rights of human rights defenders;
Deeply concerned by the repression faced by those who defend civil and political rights in the continent;
More specifically, concerned by the numerous threats, acts of intimidation, acts of violence faced by those who fight against impunity, like in Algeria, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt;
Also concerned by the threat of ban, in Angola, faced by the Association for Justice, Peace and Democracy (AJPD), an ONG which has been documenting and denouncing human rights violations, educating the public and the police on human rights, and lobbying for improvements in the legal framework, following a legal action started by the Angolan authorities in 2003 but whose existence was only notified to AJPD on 4 September 2008;
Also concerned by the increase of threats to their life faced by human rights defenders who have been monitoring and reporting on human rights violations perpetrated by the military in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, in the context of the militarization of the Niger Delta during the last couple of year;
And concerned, in Mauritania, by the severe repression of peaceful demonstrations organised by trade unions to call for the return to constitutional order and democracy following the military coup of 6 August 2008;
Deeply concerned by the repression faced by those who defend economic, social and cultural rights in the continent – in particular LGBT human rights defenders who have been requesting the Government of Uganda the respect of the right to health;
Also deeply concerned by the severe wave of repression of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, including recently two women human rights defenders belonging to Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) after their demonstrated to denounce the alarming economic and social situation of the country;
And concerned, in Tunisia, by the police and judicial harassment that struck participants to the peaceful social protest movement born in the Gafsa basin in January 2008 and that led to the sentencing to prison terms of approximately 200 hundreds people, seemingly in an attempt to punish them for exercising their right to claim the respect of their economic and social rights.
Therefore the NGO Forum calls upon the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to:
Urge the States Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights to end all forms of repression against human rights defenders and hold perpetrators of violations against human rights defenders accountable;
Immediately take all measures to guarantee the respect of freedoms of association, expression and peaceful gathering;
Publically recognise the fundamental role played by human rights defenders in the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, as well as the prevention of conflicts, the respect of the Rule of law and democracy;
Strengthen the tools and means made available to the ACHPR, and in particular the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in order to allow her to pursue her actions for the promotion and protection of human rights defenders in Africa;
Urge the States Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights to extend permanent invitations to mandate-holders of the ACHPR and United Nations.
Done in Abuja, November 9th, 2008
