The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission), meeting at its 83rd Ordinary Session held from 2 to 22 May 2025 in Banjul, The Gambia:
Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in Africa under Article 45 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter);
Considering, Articles 21 and 24 of the African Charter, on the rights of all peoples to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources, and to a generally satisfactory environment favourable to their development; and Articles 3 and 4 of the Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which affirms, among others, the duty of States to ensure that developmental and environmental needs are met in a sustainable, fair and equitable manner;
Bearing in mind specifically, Articles 16 and 17 of the Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which hold that States shall adopt measures to ensure timely and appropriate dissemination of environmental information; participation of the public in decision-making with a potentially significant environmental impact; and access to justice in matters related to protection of the environment and natural resources;
Recalling the African Commission’s commitment to promote and protect the right to environment under Article 24 of the Charter through Resolution ACHPR/Res.148 (XLV1) 09 establishing the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights and the African Commission’s State Reporting Guidelines and Principles on Articles 21 and 24, which asserts the need for ensuring protection of the right to environment in all its dimensions;
Reaffirming the Commission’s previous Resolutions on the need to improve the protection of human rights and the environment, particularly by corporate actors notably in the extractive industries, including Resolutions ACHPR/Res.224 (LI) 2012; ACHPR/Res. 364(LIX) 2016; ACHPR/Res. 367 (LX) 2017; ACHPR/Res. 489 (LXIX)2021; ACHPR/Res. 490 (LXIX)2021; ACHPR/Res. 491 (LXIX)2021 and Resolution ACHPR/Res.550 (LXXIV) 2023 resolving to draft an African Regional Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate the Activities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, towards ensuring accountability and access to remedy for business-related human rights violations in Africa;
Recalling the Commission’s commitment to the protection of human rights defenders, including environmental human rights defenders, through the Cotonou Declaration on strengthening and expanding the protection of all Human Rights Defenders in Africa adopted in 2017, Resolutions ACHPR/Res.432(LXV)2019, ACHPR/Res.69(XXXV)04, ACHPR/Res.119(XXXXII)07, ACHPR/Res.196(L)2011, ACHPR/Res.345(LVIII)2016, ACHPR/Res.376(LX)2017, ACHPR/Res.336(EXT.OS/XIX)2016, and ACHPR/Res.104(XXXXI)07;
Welcoming the international recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the UN Human Rights Council on 8 October 2021 through resolution 48/13 and the United Nations General Assembly resolution 76/300 on 28 July 2022;
Alarmed by the climate and environmental crises facing Africa, characterized not only by the devastating effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and destruction of the continent’s natural environment, and having regard to the African Commission’s commitment to address the threat posed by climate change through its Resolutions ACHPR/Resolution 271 (LV) 2014 and ACHPR/Resolution.342 (LVIII)2016 and its 2023 Study on Climate Change and Human Rights;
Deploring the use of conservatory schemes and the lease to foreign investors of large swaths of territory for carbon trade scheme leading to the dispossession of indigenous peoples, minorities and local communities of their ancestorial territories and depriving them of their livelihood and access to the resources on which they depend for their collective survival; and illicit financial flows depriving Africans of the resources needed for advancing their right to development under Article 22 and foreign direct investment in conflict resources fuelling conflict and environmental degradation;
Convinced of the need to develop further regional legal framework to protect the right to environment and the need for African-driven process in the development of a normative framework on the right to environment under Article 24 informed by the historical and contemporary lived experiences of people on the continent and that fully captures the African perspective on sustainable use of resources and protection of the natural environment and on environmental rights;
The Commission:
1.Underscores the fundamental importance of the right to a general satisfactory environment as enshrined in Article 24 of the African Charter for the enjoyment of other human and peoples’ rights of the African Charter;
2.Determines that various existing and new conditions identified in the foregoing preambular paragraphs constitute growing grave threats to the right to environment and environmental sustainability in various parts of the continent;
3.Affirms that these conditions necessitate the development of further guidance and frameworks within the framework of Article 45 of the African Charter on the interpretation of Article 24 right of all peoples to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development to enhance more effective protection of this right in all its dimensions;
4.Tasks the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa to prepare a general comment on the right to environment outlining the measures necessary for respect for, protection, promotion and fulfilment of this right, in collaboration with all the relevant special mechanisms of the African Commission, African organisations and experts working on environmental rights, international partners with expertise and track record in advancing environmental protection such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) willing and able to assist the process and to present it to the Commission for its consideration and adoption within one (1) year; and
5.Calls upon all stakeholders including States parties to the African Charter, National Human Rights Institutions, and non-State actors to contribute to the development of this critical soft law instrument.
Done in Banjul, The Gambia, at the 83rd session of the African Commission in May 2025
