Explore the ways you can respond if you face reprisals when engaging with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
For more information about the tools of the African Commission, please visit our dedicated module: ISHR Academy: The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
If you suffer reprisals as a result of cooperating or attempting to cooperate with the African Commission, you are unlikely to want to risk further reprisals through continuing engagement. If you are planning to pursue a case of reprisal, you should always consider the risks involved in having a case of reprisal made public. While the publicity can serve a protective function, it can also further expose you and make you, and those connected to you such as colleagues or loved ones, more vulnerable.
Below are some of the ways you can use the African Commission’s mechanisms themselves to respond to reprisals. For more information on reprisals related to engagement with the UN, please visit other parts of the Security section.
Watch the video below to learn more about the risk of reprisals when engaging with the African Commission:
Overview of the risk and different forms of reprisals human rights defenders in Africa may face, as well as the role of the Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa (ISHR)
In 2014, the African Commission extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders to include the role of Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, following ‘grave concern’ expressed by the African Commission in the face of frequent and serious reprisals against civil society activists, in particular human rights defenders, when engaging with the African Commission.
The Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa is mandated to:
In pursuit of its mandate, the Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa published a Fact Sheet on Reprisals in Africa. This Fact Sheet contains information on: the purpose and functioning of the mandate; how to contact the Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa to lodge a complaint if you or someone you know have suffered reprisals (‘collection and transmission of information’); how cases are accessed by the Focal Point; and the measures the Focal Point can take in response to reprisals. Bear in mind that the Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa only deals with reprisals related to cooperation with the African Commission (not reprisals against civil society in general or in relation to other mechanisms, for this, see the other parts of this module).
When the Focal Point receives information on a case of potential reprisals, they assess the validity of the claim, conduct an investigation, and potentially follow up for more information. If the case of reprisals is credible, the Focal Point may take preventive or protective measures, including requesting information from the State in question or asking that they take urgent measures to refrain from acts of intimidation or reprisal, if necessary. They may also issue a public statement, conduct a country visit, publish observations or recommendations, or call on certain stakeholders (national, regional, international) to take certain actions. Finally, reprisal cases will be included in the Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa’s intersession activity report, presented at Ordinary sessions of the African Commission, of which you can find an example here.
There is no specific timeline for the Focal Point’s process, so be prepared for it to potentially take some time, as the mandate of the Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, much like the African Commission as a whole, is generally understaffed and under-resourced, with limited capacity in the face of the number of cases to deal with. If your case is urgent (for example, if a person’s life is in danger) and/or you are seeking a swift remedy, consider whether other forms of recourse might be better suited. Additionally, bear in mind that this process is generally not anonymous and that the Focal Point will communicate the identity of the alleged victim in its correspondence with the State in question. In public statements, the Focal Point may restrict the kind of information shared on the alleged victim if sharing certain pieces of information could be detrimental to them or if the alleged victim is a minor.
For an example of a submission following the call for contribution to the Focal Point’s first ever report on reprisals, see Ending Intimidation and Reprisals against Those who Cooperate with the African Human Rights System: Submission to the Focal Point on Reprisals of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
During the 64th ordinary session of the African Commission, in April and May 2019, in Egypt, Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, Executive Director of the Réseau des défenseurs des droits humains de l’Afrique centrale (Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa, REDHAC), made a statement about security challenges, violations of fundamental freedoms, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances of HRDs, in countries like the the Republic of Congo and Gabon. She also mentionned the arrests of journalists, and the so-called Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon. She made specific recommendations for each of these situations. Upon returning to Cameroon, Ngo Mbe was detained and searched by immigration services at Douala airport. She was accused of destabilizing the country and tarnishing its reputation abroad through her work. This was not the first time Ngo Mbe or REDHAC had been the targets of acts of reprisals and/or intimidation.
In 2015, the Commission épiscopale pour la justice et la paix (Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, CEJP), a faith-based organisation dedicated to justice, non-violence, and reconciliation, called on the African Commission to conduct an investigation on human rights violations and abuses against civilian populations in Burundi. In December 2015, an African Commission delegation came to Burundi and met with Gervais Nibigira, Project Officer at the CEJP. Following the meeting, in January 2016, Nibigira was informed that the intelligence services had placed him and other members of CEJP under surveillance and were building a case against them. In May 2016, Nibigira was informed again that the intelligence services were ready to arrest him and two other colleagues and that they might forcibly disappear. The informant implored Nibigira to leave the country. The same day, he was summoned to the General Prosecutor’s Office. Understanding the danger, he and another colleague left the country immediately. Nibigira remains in exile to this day.
The African Commission’s Communications procedure allows for NGOs and individuals to complain to the African Commission about cases of human rights violations (of any kind), including reprisals. Communications to the African Commission must be submitted in writing, in one of the official languages of the African Commission (English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili, and Spanish), and addressed to the African Commission Secretariat at [email protected]. For more information, please see our dedicated section on Communications in the module on the ‘African Commission on Human and Peoples’ rights' available in the ISHR Academy.
