By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
The Gambia hosts the 57th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (The Commission) at Kairaba Beach Hotel, from 4th to 18th November. The Commission was preceded by the NGO forum and the 31st African Human Rights Book Fair which was held from October 31st to November 2nd. By the end of November the Gambia was bustling with representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from the African Continent. Starting from the fourth preceding sessions will focus on; State reporting guidelines and a preparation update on the celebration of 2016 as African Year of Human Rights with special focus on Women’s Rights to name a few. This event allowed the ACHPR to review the recently submitted periodic reports by four African States. It also affords CSOs, NGOs and similar organisations an opportunity to present their findings, challenges and breakthroughs to The Commission.
Opening Panel – Vulnerability of Journalists
The opening (October 31st to November 2nd) of The Commission featured a book launching and a forum on Journalism and Human Rights defenders. The opening panel’s topic of discussion focused on “The vulnerability of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Africa”. The discussion highlighted that media personnel and Human Rights defenders are being killed, tortured and jailed. The panel recognizes that this issue in particular is a dire concern as it’s now apparent that Governments view Human Rights activists and their activities as a threat to National security.
UN special Rapporteur and Commissioner for Access to Information Madam Pansy Tlakula stated that “Most of African States are sitting on a time bomb due to lack of initiates to address youth employment”. She highlighted that “election related conflicts arise because African leaders are determined to hang on to power at all cost. When the people they lead are no longer interested in their leadership. Most of African leaders continue to remain in power to the cost of civilian lives and these needs to be addressed.”
Panellists discussed among other issues Progress on human rights issues that hinges on the willingness of Governments and Human Rights activists to collaborate and ensure the safety of their sovereign citizens as enshrined in the African Charter and their respective National Constitutions. Another discussion point was on the formulation of strict legislation to allow CSOs and media practitioners to carry out their work freely without restrictions. The forum provided a platform to discuss pertinent Human Rights issues and accorded CSO’s, NGO’s and similar organisations a chance to present their recommendations on how the Commission can address issues raised.
Four Reviews and Categories
The Commission will place four state periodic reports under the magnifying glass for review during specifically allocated sessions. The four states which will be reviewed by the commission are; Algeria, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone’s review will be based on its first ever State periodic report submitted to the ACHPR in 2013. Kenya submitted its combined 8th to 11th periodic report which will draw attention due to the gross human rights violations observed after its Presidential election in December 2007. Burkina Faso’s review spans four years starting from 2011 to 2015 and represents her third and fourth periodic report. It can be recalled that Burkina Faso has been undergoing political transition since October 2014 when former dictator Blaise Compaore was overthrown by popular uprising. This resulted in many deaths and injuries. Algeria’s submission covers periods from 2010 to 2014 during which the former Branch President of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights Mohamed Smain was arrested and detained by the Algerian police in June 2012. The Commission will be keen to observe some progress from this setback to guaranteeing Human Rights in Algeria. It’s left to be seen if the Algerian Government will propose any concrete commitment to reverse this trend.
This year’s host country The Gambia has not submitted any periodic reports since 1994 and currently still has 10 overdue periodic reports to submit. “In accordance with Article 62 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, State Parties to the Charter are required to submit every two years, a report on the legislative or other measures taken, with a view to giving effect to the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed by the Charter.” Failure to submit three or more periodic reports places Gambia in the red category together with 23 other African States including Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe to name a few.
There are four different categories based on a traffic light analogy for State Reporting. Green being the best category, reserved for countries who have submitted all reports (7 African States). States with one or two overdue reports are categorised in the Amber Category (16 African States). After Red is the Gray category, reserved for states that are yet to submit a report (7 African States). The nations with the most overdue reports are Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Somalia with 15 plus overdue periodic reports. Observing the number of African States with overdue reports highlights the need for African countries to improve their frequency of human rights reporting and begin implementing recommendations to address violations against human and people’s rights. If African States can demonstrate higher levels of commitment then they graduate from up to date reporting and most importantly implement recommendations to address human rights abuses.
African State – Status | No. of Overdue Reports – Comment |
Algeria – Green | No reports overdue |
Burkina Faso – Green | No reports overdue |
Gambia – Red | 10 overdue reports – Overdue since 1994 |
Ghana – Red | 8 overdue reports – Overdue since 1998 |
Kenya – Green | No reports overdue |
Nigeria – Green | No reports overdue |
Senegal – Amber | 1 overdue report – Overdue since 2013 |
Sierra Leone – Amber | 1 overdue report – Overdue since 2013 |
South Africa – Red | 5 overdue report – Overdue since 2005 |
Zimbabwe – Red | 4 overdue report – Overdue since 2006 |
The source of data in the above table and text is from http://www.achpr.org/states/
Host Nation Perspective
Focussing our attention on the Gambia and its exchanges with the ACHPR, it is evident that the cracks are beginning to show up. ACHPR’s “37th Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights” made reference to a Joint Letter of Urgent Appeal sent to The Gambia regarding the alleged continued incommunicado detention of Journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh since 2006 (8 October 2014). In response the Gambian Government responded, stating that “it sees no reason why Chief Manneh will be detained for eight (8) years for a crime that the Government did not know about, when those charged with treason are tried in public courts.” This type of response does little to demonstrate any commitment to address or investigate human rights violations as serious as incommunicado detentions and enforced disappearance.
In conclusion to the ACHPR’s activity report special mention was reserved for two countries including newly formed South Sudan and The Gambia. On South Sudan the Commission urged “the Republic of South Sudan to ratify the African Charter”. Gambia on the other hand, the Commission urged “the Republic of The Gambia to construct the Headquarters of the Commission and to address the communication challenges facing the Commission and its Secretariat.” This highlights some of the challenges that the ACHPR Secretariat based in the Gambia is faced with. Nonetheless many individuals will be keenly observing if the Gambia Government will deliver anything concrete in response to the two aforementioned demands from The Commission.
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights headquartered in Banjul has been a controversial issue with defenders of Human Rights highlighting Gambia’s Gross Human Rights Records and its failure to comply with the Commissions provisions since Yahya Jammeh took over power in 1994. Critics argue that it is an embarrassment for the Commission to continue its presence in Gambia with such dismal records. They argue that it serves as a bad example and precedence for other nations. With Gambia completely disrespecting the commission’s charters the body appears to be toothless and unable to enforce any provisions. Many pointed out that if Gambia can get away with 20+ years of failure to report or respect the demands of the commission then how can the commission deal with other nations who chooses to follow the same pattern. However, the commission has argued that its presence in Gambia allows it to document Rights violations where as if they are absent from the country they could not know what is going on in the country. Conventional popular views alleges that the commission is more or less like the African Union whose membership consists of many dictators including its current chair Zimbabwean President Mugabe. How the commission will address Gambia and other nations’ failures is yet to be seen.
Gainako will be monitoring the meetings and will update our readers on the progress, we will also be reporting on The Commission on social media using the hashtag #ACHPR57. Follow us on Twitter @dbaldeh, @FlexDan_YT, @GainakoMawdo to stay up to date.