The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is the main human rights body of the African Union, responsible for overseeing the implementation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Its overall aim is to promote and protect human and peoples' rights across the African continent.
In practice, the Commission performs several key functions:
The Commission is composed of 11 independent Commissioners, elected by the Assembly of the African Union. These experts serve in their personal capacity and often hold thematic or country mandates, including special mechanisms such as Special Rapporteurs, Committees, and Working Groups. These mandates are your points of entry for raising concerns, sharing information, and influencing regional human rights standards.
You can learn more about the African Commission's institutional structure and procedures in the module developed for defenders dedicated to the African regional human rights system on the ISHR Academy.
Source: African Union
Environmental protection is recognised within the regional human rights framework through the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Article 24 establishes the right of all peoples to "a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development". This provision has become an important legal basis for addressing environmental harm and the impacts of resource exploitation. The African Commission has interpreted this provision in several landmark decisions to address environmental harm linked to extractive industries and State action.
Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) v. Nigeria, adopted in 2001: In this case, communities from the Niger Delta challenged the environmental devastation caused by oil extraction. The African Commission found that Nigeria had violated Article 24 because the State had failed to protect communities from environmental harm caused by oil extraction and had directly contributed to violations through the actions of its security forces and public institutions.
It also found that the government failed to ensure environmental impact assessments, failed to regulate oil companies' activities, and did not provide affected communities with information or with opportunities to participate in decisions affecting their lands and resources.
As part of its recommendations, the Commission called on Nigeria to investigate the violations, compensate affected communities, clean up polluted lands and rivers, ensure environmental and social impact assessments for future oil projects, and guarantee that communities have access to information and participation in decisions related to extractive activities.
Additionally, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights has advanced through its decisions and advisory opinions to strengthen and tailor the understanding of the African Charter to concrete cases and situations. You can check here for concrete cases of application for EHRDs and the right to a healthy environment.
In addition to the African Charter, the African continent boasts several other human rights instruments relevant to environmental protection and advocacy.
Also known as the Maputo Protocol — entered into force in 2005. It is not an environmental treaty as such, but it is highly relevant to environmental rights because it recognises women’s rights in areas directly affected by environmental harm, including food security, housing, health, and sustainable development (Articles 15, 16, 18 and 19). In practice, it helps frame environmental degradation not only as an ecological issue, but also as a matter of gender equality, dignity, and access to the conditions necessary for life.
This Protocol is particularly useful when environmental harm affects women in specific or disproportionate ways. You can use it to show how pollution, land dispossession, water scarcity, or extractive projects often deepen existing gender discrimination by affecting women’s access to land, natural resources, livelihoods, health, and participation in decision-making.
Also known as the Kampala Convention — entered into force in 2012. While it is not an environmental treaty, it can be a powerful tool when environmental harm leads to displacement, land loss, or threats to communities. For instance, it recognises that displacement can result from natural or human-made disasters, climate change, and development or extractive projects, and it places obligations on States to prevent and respond to those harms.
What makes it relevant is the fact that it also addresses the role of non-state actors, including companies. It requires States to ensure accountability for arbitrary displacement linked to resource exploitation (Article 3), to protect people displaced by climate-related impacts (Article 5), and to prevent environmental degradation in areas where displaced persons are located (Article 9). It also requires, as far as possible, that States prevent displacement caused by public or private projects, provide full information and consultation, and carry out socio-economic and environmental impact assessments before such projects proceed (Article 10).
Also known as the African Children's Charter — entered into force in 1999. It helps connect environmental harm with children’s rights to survival, development, health, and well-being. It further recognises that children’s lives depend on safe living conditions, access to essential resources, and an environment that supports their physical and social development. You can use the Charter when pollution, environmental degradation, or extractive activities affect children’s health, food, water, or living conditions. In particular, it requires States to protect children’s survival and development (Article 5) and to ensure the highest attainable standard of health, including adequate nutrition, safe drinking water, and preventive healthcare (Article 14). It also recognises the importance of education in promoting respect for the environment and natural resources (Article 11), reinforcing the idea that environmental protection is essential to children’s present and future rights.
It was issued in 2026. It serves as a valuable advocacy tool when environmental damage is connected to a lack of transparency, exclusion from decision-making, attacks on EHRDs, including journalists, or barriers to justice. Although it is not a binding treaty like the African Charter itself, it clarifies the interpretation of existing rights under the Charter — particularly the rights to information, health, natural resources, and a satisfactory environment — to help guide their application in environmental and climate-related contexts.
This resolution also consolidates several practical protections that are highly relevant to EHRDs. It calls on States to ensure timely and accessible environmental information, guarantee meaningful public participation, and safeguard access to justice in environmental matters. It also urges States to protect environmental defenders and journalists from reprisals, combat abusive legal actions intended to silence public participation, and require businesses — especially in high-risk sectors — to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence, including transparency and community participation obligations.
In practice, you can use this resolution to support advocacy, addressing environmental harm linked to a lack of transparency, exclusion from decision-making, attacks on EHRDs, and barriers to justice. Its relevance is high for communities impacted by extractive industries, infrastructure, agribusiness, climate change, or environmental degradation.
In addition to the above, there are several ways you can engage with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) to raise concerns about environmental harm, land rights, natural resources, and attacks against defenders. However, you need to weigh the purpose and timing when assessing the best avenues. In the following, we provide an overview but we recommend that you take on Chapter 3 of the ISHR Academy module on ACHPR.
Some mechanisms — such as communications (individual complaints) — can lead to formal findings on violations of the African Charter. Others — such as State reporting processes or resolutions adopted by the Commission — provide opportunities to raise concerns, shape regional standards, and bring visibility to the risks faced by communities and environmental defenders.
Understanding how these different avenues work can help you decide which ones may best support your advocacy.
Collaborating with Special mechanisms (see section below)
Organising a country visit: Invite or participate with commissioners in your country to promote human rights and environmental defence.
Writing a shadow report ahead of a State Periodic Review
Parties to the African Charter must periodically submit reports to the African Commission on the measures they have taken to implement their human rights obligations. These reporting cycles create opportunities to provide additional information to the Commission. You can engage with this process by submitting civil society reports that present alternative information highlighting concerns related to environmental protection, natural resource governance, community participation, or attacks against defenders, for example. Submitting shadow reports can help ensure the Commission raises these concerns during its dialogue with the State and reflects them in its concluding observations.
Reporting Guidelines on Articles 21 and 24: These guidelines were developed by the African Commission to clarify how States should report on the right of peoples to dispose of their natural resources freely (Article 21) and the right to a satisfactory environment favourable to development (Article 24). You can use these guidelines to frame the information you submit during the State reporting process to ensure the Commission addresses environmental concerns with a human rights lens.
Submitting a communication or complaint
This is one of the most important mechanisms you can use within the African Commission because it allows individuals, communities, and organisations to submit complaints alleging violations of the African Charter and, where relevant, other applicable African human rights instruments. Use the communications procedure when you want to challenge specific human rights violations affecting individuals or communities. However, it is important to keep in mind that this is generally a long-term mechanism, as communications often take several years to progress through the admissibility and merits stages.
If the Commission finds that violations occurred, it can issue findings and recommendations to the State to clarify how the African Charter applies to environmental protection, natural resource governance, participation rights, and State duties to regulate corporate actors.
See many examples of successful communication in the DRC, Kenya and Sudan here and here (ISHR Academy course on ACHPR).
Following and engaging in networks and coalitions: building alliances can be a useful tactic and many exist already.
Also, you can engage in person during the ordinary session of the Commission open to the public twice a year by:
Delivering an oral statement
Organising a side-event
Pushing for a resolution to be adopted
The African Commission also adopts resolutions, declarations, and interpretative guidance to strengthen protections for the environment and for human rights defenders. They play an important role in clarifying standards and raising regional awareness of specific concerns, serving as a relevant avenue for strengthening normative recognition of emerging issues or highlighting regional risks faced by environmental defenders. For example, the Commission has adopted resolutions addressing the situation of human rights defenders working on environmental issues in Uganda, including one focused on protecting defenders.
Meeting with Commissioners and other key stakeholders
Participating in the NGO Forum, a prominent gathering organised by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies.
The African Commission does not currently operate a dedicated rapid response mechanism for environmental defenders. As a result, it may not provide immediate protection in urgent situations.
For the above reason, it is useful to combine engagement with the African Commission with other regional or international mechanisms, including those within the UN human rights system (See Chapter 2 for more information), to raise urgent concerns or increase international visibility.
Similarly, you can also access the Aarhus Convention (see Section 3.3) in cases where environmental harm affecting your community involves companies, financial institutions, or development projects linked to Aarhus party countries (from Europe, for instance). In practice, this means that activities carried out outside the European Union — such as extractive projects, infrastructure development, or environmental decision-making involving Party members — may still be challenged under Aarhus mechanisms if the State concerned fails to comply with its obligations under the Convention.
Let’s continue with a focus on one of the most concrete Special Mechanisms for EHRDs of the African Commission.
