A) In my capacity as member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
During the intersession, I carried out the following activities:
1. On the 11th December 2009, on the invitation of the Tunisian Bar Association without borders and the National Union of Tunisian Journalists I embarked on my mandate of commissioner with the organization of a round table on the Theme: Human Rights and State Sovereignty, with two presentations on:
- Human Rights and National Sovereignty
- The Right to Information and National Sovereignty
2. From 9 to 17 February 2010, I travelled to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania on a joint promotional visit in my capacity as Commissioner responsible for the promotion of human rights in Mauritania. This joint visit carried out in collaboration with my colleagues the Chairperson and Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa responded to the provisions of Articles 45 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and 87 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure; these Articles impose an obligation on the members of the African Commission to promote human and peoples rights throughout the Continent.
3. This visit enabled us to engage constructive dialogue with the Mauritanian Authorities, with Mr. Hanefi Ould Dehah, Director of the Information website "Taqadoumy" and Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, President of the Initiative of the Re-emergence of the Abolitionist movement in Mauritania (IRA) and Head of Mission of SOS-Esclaves on a number of human rights related issues. A detailed Report on this visit will be presented in private session at the earliest opportunity.
4. From 22 February to 3 March 2010, I participated in the 8th Extraordinary Session of the African Commission. There were several issues on the Agenda of this extraordinary session, notably the finalization of the Rules of Procedure to be adopted during the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Commission and consideration of the ACHPR’s 2010 budget.
5.From 27 to 29 April 2010, I stayed in Arusha, in the United Republic of Tanzania where I participated in a consultative meeting with the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This main objective of this meeting was to finalize the harmonization of the African Commission’s new Rules of Procedure with those of the Court in order to achieve complimentarity in the protection of human rights on our Continent, as stipulated by Articles 2 and 4 of the Protocol on the African Court.
6.From 8 to 10 May 2010, I participated in the NGO Forum which preceded the 47th Ordinary Session of our Commission. In the context of the Forum I was member of a panel established by the International Service to meet and discuss with the Defenders the ways and means of pursuing the dialogue which had been started with the former Special Rapporteur, with the objective of finding a better solution to the problems encountered by the human rights Defenders throughout our Continent.
7. On the 11 May 2010, I participated in a discussion panel on human rights defenders and national legislations. This once again provided me with an opportunity to inform the defenders about my opinion with regard to the strategy to be put in place in order to address all the challenges that they encounter in the exercise of their activities.
8. On the 10 and 11 May I participated in the second meeting organized by the Department of Political Affairs of the African Union on the African Human Rights Strategy. This meeting which was a follow up of the one held in March 2010 in Banjul had the objective of gathering comments to strengthen the perspectives drawn up during the first meeting in order to start from a solid basis for the preparation of an African Human Rights Strategy, which it is hoped will be ready for January 2011.
Conclusions
During the intersession, I carried out three activities essentially in order to fully grasp the dynamics of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights following my appointment.
These activities enlightened me on some of the challenges encountered by the members of the African Commission on a daily basis. My commitment was that much more strengthened and I wish to seize this opportunity to launch an appeal to all the actors so that they continue to support the ACHPR in its noble task of promoting and protecting human and peoples’ rights in Africa.
