Atoki replaces
Alapini-Gansou as ACHPR Chairperson
Hon Reine Alapini-Gansou |
Nigerian born Honourable Catherine Dupe
Atoki has been elected Chairperson of African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
(ACHPR) during the 50th Ordinary Session of the
Commission held in the Gambian capital, Banjul.
Atoki was the Commission’s Special
Rapporteur on Prevention of Torture in Africa;
she replaces Madam Reine Alapini-Gansou as Chairperson of the ACHPR, to oversee
the affairs of Commission for the next two years. She will be assisted by Hon. Kayitesi
Zainabo Sylvie, as Vice-chairperson.
Commissioner Sylvie, a Rwandan, is the ACHPR’s
Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Internally Displaced Person and Migrants.
In her last address as Chair of the
Commission during the 50th Ordinary Session, Commissioner
Alapini-Gansou pay tribute to her colleagues for the time spent together in
difficult moments characterized by stormy debates, but for a good cause which
usually ended in embraces and signs of peace.
She said she will keep the memory of a united
team of men and women full of love for a job, a job well done in total
selflessness for the cause of human rights in Africa.
During her term of office, the Commission focused on capacity building and
cooperation with the other organs in Africa
and the world.
However, she admitted that, she is
aware of the human rights problems that are lurking around Africa
among them; nationality, sexual orientation and corruption. Apart
from the traditional human
rights problems which are of real concern, the ACHPR
over the last two years went through a “highly critical period”
with serious budgetary problems.
“Our budget was cut for no apparent
reason at the time, as by magic, the ACHPR partners who we refer to as friends
of the Commission, decided to no longer offer us technical and financial
assistance. This action which didn’t have any legal basis, had been taken by a
good number of our donors,” Madam Gansou reveals.
She laments that the decision affected
the work of the Commission in discharging their mandate of control and
monitoring, adding that “after twenty-five years of existence, the African
Commission remains the least resourced organs on the African continent as far
budgetary allocation is concerned.”
The Togolese-born Madam Alapini-Gansou,
who will now serve as the ACHPR’s Special Rapporteur for the Protection of
Human Rights Defenders in Africa, it is
certain that at the institutional level, the Commission is witnessing differentiated
treatment between similar organs of the African Union (AU).
Author: Modou S. Joof
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