Mali: Promotion Mission, 2004

Mr. Mohamed Abdellahi Ould Babana, Member of the African Commission, responsible for human rights promotional activities in Mali, assisted by Ahmed Tidiane Sakho, Officer in charge of Policy, Planning and Projects at the Secretariat of the Commission, undertook a promotional Mission to Bamako from 9 to 18 April 2004.
The general objectives of the mission were:

• To promote the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights;
• To sensitize Malian authorities and members of civil society on the activities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights;
• To obtain first hand information on the human rights situation in Mali.

Recommendations

To the Government of Mali

1. Establish and operationalize an executive structure for the coordination and monitoring of human rights issues;
2. Establish a National Human Rights Institution in accordance with the releveant provisions of the African Charter and the Paris Principles;
3. Confer on the Office of Ombudsman of the Republic the status of a constitutional institution so as to grant it greater power and authority;
4. Refer to the African Commission all matters of interpretation of the African Charter in conformity with the provisions of Article 45 of the said Charter;
5. Put in place the necessary measures to curb the administrative bottlenecks which dog the preparation of States' Periodic Reports by eliminating the conflict of roles which give rise to these bottlenecks;
6. Pursue and intensify the fight against poverty with a view to guaranteeing the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights;
7. Pursue the fight against corruption and impunity with a view to consolidating the poverty alleviation program;
8. Deploy extra efforts to satisfy the requirements in the education sector: classrooms, teachers, books, teaching aids...
9. Intensify the IEC Programme (Information, Education, Communication) put in place by the Ministry of Health so as to put into effect the behavioral changes necessary for the preservation of the food health of the populations, notably against STDs and HIV/AIDS;
10. Take steps to strengthen education on human rights and democracy;
11. Use all available channels to sensitize the population on human rights promotion and protection instruments with special emphasis on the provisions of the African Charter;
12. Proceed with the reform of the Justice System;
13. Put in place a sound policy for the recruitment of new talents into the Magistracy, which should be combined with an on-going skills development programme for Magistrates;
14. Harmonize its national laws with International Human Rights Conventions;
15. Put in place the requisite measures to translate into action the provisions of international instruments to which the country is signatory;
16. Pursue and intensify the process of humanization of prison conditions, by facilitating notably, access to drinking water and electricity in prisons that do not have such facilities;
17. Explore ways and means of actively involving NGOs and other civil society actors in the promotion and protection of human rights;
18. Make a declaration of competence with a view to facilitating seizure of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights which is soon to be established;
19. Ensure that it sends delegations regularly to the different sessions of the African Commission;

To the African Commission

1. To send to the Malian side other documents, notbaly its various publications as well as all other information likely to stregthen the visibility of the institution.