You can engage with the African Commission as a whole through country visits (also called ‘promotional visits’, as part of its promotional mandate) and ‘fact-finding missions’ (as part of its protective mandate). These are separate from the country visits (also called ‘study visits’) carried out by Special mechanisms specifically, already covered in Section 2.4 Collaborating with Special Mechanisms.
Promotion missions are official country visits of the African Commission to a country. They are part of the African Commission’s promotional mandate, in particular to disseminate information, encourage national and local institutions concerned with human rights, and give its views and/or recommendations to governments. They follow an official invitation by the State and are organised and paid-for by the government. The African Commission may however request to be invited by sending a note verbale. Civil society can also lobby the government to issue an invitation to the African Commission. In the case of a promotional visit, the African Commission travels as a whole, including all Commissioners; if a Commissioner is a national of the country being visited, they may observe as part of the visit but will not contribute to the final mission report. Commissioners may meet with the government, civil society, and any other stakeholders as part of a promotion mission. A promotion mission usually lasts between 4 and 7 days and a mission report is then published. For an example, see the African Commission’s Promotion Mission to the Republic of Namibia in 2023.
Fact-finding missions are country visits where the African Commission seeks to investigate a specific rights violation or set of rights violations in a given country. The African Commission may meet with the government, civil society, and any other stakeholders as part of these fact-finding missions. They are either initiated by the African Commission itself (see for example the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe in 2002) or requested by the AU (see for example the Fact-Finding Mission to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 2014). They are governed by terms of reference.
Officially, country visits are supposed to be publicly announced ahead of time by the African Commission via a press release on their website. However, in practice, this is rarely the case, with press releases mostly being published after the country visit is over.
See below a video showcasing the African Commission’s promotional visit to Togo, in 2022, led by Commissioner Lumbu (in French with subtitles available, click on parameters for preferred language).
This video showcases the promotion mission of the African Commission through a 4-day country visit to Togo. We can see that three commissioners, including Special mechanisms, travelled (Chairperson and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Chair of the Working Group on Death Penalty, Chair of the Working Group on Older People and People with Disabilities) and met key stakeholders of the human rights field including civil society organisations, but also the Supreme Court, the Parliament, international organisations, etc. This visit was very comprehensive and enabled the Commission to welcome progress in the country, such as the creation of the National Human Rights Institution, and to provide recommendations in relation to detention conditions for example. Commissioners and Special mechanisms also used the visit to recommend the ratification of important protocols, such as the protocol on the rights of older people and people with disabilities.
Go to the next section for tips on how to organise a country visit.
