I: Introduction
1. This Report is prepared pursuant to Rules 23 (3) and 72 of the Rules of Procedure of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission), which requires each of the African Commission’s subsidiary mechanisms to present a report on its work at each Ordinary Session, and each Commissioner to submit a
report similarly on promotion activities undertaken during the inter-session. I submit this Report in my capacity as a Member of the African Commission, the Chairperson of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa (‘CPTA’ or ‘the
Committee’), Member of the Working Group on Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities, and Member of the Working Group on Specific Issues Related to the work of the African Commission.
2. This Report covers the inter-session between the 60th and the 61st Ordinary Sessions of the African Commission, during the period May to November 2017. It also provides an analysis on the theme ‘Denial of Abortion and Post-Abortion Care as Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment or Treatment.’
3. The Report is divided into this introduction; my inter-sessional activities; a thematic report on ‘Reproductive Violence as Torture’; and recommendations.
4. Annexed to this Report is a compilation and assessment of all the work done by the CPTA during my tenure as its Chairperson, from 2014 to 2017.
