The
Forum on the Participation NGOs in the 51st Ordinary Session of the
African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, ACHPR, is slated for April
14-16, 2012 in Banjul.
The ACHPR session will be held from 18 April to 2
May 2012.
The
principal objectives of the Forum is to foster closer co-operation among NGOs,
and with the African Commission; to provide a discussion platform to democracy
and human rights NGOs in Africa; and to promote inter-regional networking for
the implementation of decisions of the Forum as contained in the ACHPR
Communiqué.
On
the sidelines of the Forum is the 25th African Human Rights Book
Fair, meant to enable NGOs network and renew the exchange of materials and
information, and publicize their activities.
According
to the organisers, the African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies,
ACDHRS, the Forum will deliberate generally on the human rights situation in
Africa. It will bring to the fore specific human rights situations to attract
the attention of the African Commission, the international community and
Governments.
Held
biannually, the Forum serves as the main advocacy tool of the ACDHRS to support
networking among human rights NGOs, for the promotion and protection of human
rights in Africa.
Freedom
of Expression remain a key human rights issue in Africa, however, its exclusion
in the agenda of the Forum in April 2011 left free expression campaigners
perplexed.
The
Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African representative of the
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned the action. The
Pan-African journalists’ body argued the reason for the non-inclusion of free
expression was given with “untrue rationale”.
According
to FAJ, ACDHRS said it excluded Freedom of Expression in the panel of the NGO
Forum due to a “late” request by the journalists grouping.
IFJ,
FAJ and its affiliates facilitated the 1st Free Expression panel in
2010.
The
last Forum held in Banjul, The Gambia in October 2011 attracted over 200
participants from civil society organizations in Africa and beyond, inter-state
organizations, and the academia.
Written by
Modou S. Joof
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