DECLARATION OF THE SECOND JOINT FORUM OF THE SPECIAL MECHANISMS OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

PREAMBLE

WHEREAS the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) convened the SecondJoint Forum of the Special Mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and People’ Rights from 5 to 6 May 2025 in Banjul, The Republic of The Gambia

WHEREAS the Second Forum follows the First Joint Forum of Special Mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held from 25 to 27 April 2024 in Dakar, The Republic of Senegal under the theme “Advancing the protection and promotion of human rights in Africa: Strengthening commitments, overcoming challenges and reinforcing opportunities”.

WHEREAS the Second Forum was convened with the following objectives:

1. To discuss and unpack the right to development in Africa, with particular emphasis on the recognition of human rights as an imperative for the realization of sustainable development;
2. To discuss and highlight the right to development from the perspective of the Commission’s thematic mandates, highlighting their interrelatedness;
3. To review and reflect on the strides made by the special mechanisms in contributing to the execution of the Commission’s mandate, particularly in relation to the right to development, identifying challenges and proposing strategies for enhanced effectiveness in their contribution; and
4. To provide a platform for exchange of best practices between relevant stakeholders, to explore innovative approaches and creative avenues for new partnerships between the Commission, States Parties, NGOs, and other actors, emphasizing the collective responsibility for realizing human rights in Africa.

WHEREAS the Joint Forum had 239 participants, which includes: 11 Commissioners, 70 representatives from States Parties, 4 representatives ofAfrican Union (AU) Organs/Department/Specialized Institutions, 2 representatives of international organizations, 7 representatives of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), 105 representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and 5 members of the media, in addition to 35 staff members of the Commission’s Secretariat.

WHEREAS the Forum’s session discussions included the following:

1. Aligning development assistance and investments with States’ socio-economic rights and sustainable development obligations under the African Charter;
2. The promotion and protection of the right to health as a pre-requisite for sustainable development in Africa – lessons from strategies addressing public health emergencies;
3. Promoting inclusivity in development: Protecting the Rights of Vulnerable Groups – including Prisoners, Persons with Disabilities, Older Persons, Women, Refugees and IPDs, and Children - for Sustainable Development in Africa;
4. Respect for life and human dignity for harmonious and inclusive development;
5. Natural resources, international economic relations of Africa and the right to development;
6. Justice as a Pillar of Sustainability: the Role of Courts in Advancing Human Rights and Development Goals;
7. Addressing conflict, climate change and development induced migration;
8. Freedom of association, assembly, expression and access to information as enablers of human and sustainable development.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Forum makes the following recommendationsto the following stakeholders:

1. TO STATES PARTIES

Aligning development assistance and investments with States’ socio-economic rights and sustainable development obligations under the African Charter:

1. Reimagine development not just as a technical goal, but as a moral and political imperative rooted in the dignity, agency and the wellbeing of citizens;
2. Make socio-economic rights justiciable;
3. Look beyond Official Development Assistance (ODA) and focus on remittances from the diaspora;
4. Decline financial aid/assistance that does not align with domestic priorities;
5. Adopt measures to ensure access to education and inclusion of women and girls in economic activities and representation in public service;
6. Facilitate easier movement and air-transportation within Africa;
7. Address disparities in development, ensure reduction of unemployment and poverty;
8. Put in place effective frameworks that ensure that natural resources principally are addressed for advancing development of peoples;
9. Put in place mechanisms for addressing illicit financial flows and ending exploitative extraction of natural resources by multinational companies for mobilizing the funds needed for advancing the right to development;
10. Put in place adaptation as the key pillar of policy on climate change.
11. Put in place constitutional and legal mechanisms of accountability and remedy but also political accountability of the decision-making actors and processes.

The promotion and protection of the right to health as a pre-requisite for sustainable development in Africa – lessons from strategies addressing public health emergencies:

1. Commit to the realization of universal health care (UHC) and access to essential medicines;
2. Adopt legislative and policy regulations that enhance access to healthcare;
3. Enhance accountability;
4. Allocate adequate domestic financial resources towards quality health services in national budgets, in conformity with the Abuja Declaration;
5. Invest adequately and appropriately in primary healthcare;
6. Ensure adequate domestic funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and care;
7. Invest in the production of medicines and address issues related to patents;
8. Address issues of brain-drain to ensure the retention of doctors and other healthcare workers in Africa by creating a conducive environment for them;
9. Collaborate with other countries in building robust health systems through joint research.

Promoting inclusivity in development: Protecting the Rights of Vulnerable Groups – including Prisoners, Persons with Disabilities, Older Persons, Women, Refugees and IPDs, and Children - for Sustainable Development in Africa:

1. Adopt necessary measures to end child marriage in Africa;
2. Take into consideration the rights of women and children in development planning and remove structural barriers to the participation of women in economic activities;
3. Take a human rights-based approach to budgeting;
4. Ensure the participation of women in post-conflict peacebuilding initiatives;
5. Ensure gender equality and access to justice for all;
6. Integrate vulnerable groups (children, IDPs, refugees, stateless persons, indigenous peoples, etc.) in development frameworks and other public policies;
7. Allow refugees to work in host countries;
8. Ratify and implement the Protocol to the African Charter on Older Persons and the Protocol to the African Charter on Persons with Disabilities;
9. Ratify and implement the Protocol to the African Charter Relating to the Specific Aspects of the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa;
10. Incorporate and translate into national laws the Commission's non-binding instruments on prisons, more specifically on matters related to Education, Vocational Training, Health and the Decriminalization of Petty Offenses;
11. Ratify and implement the OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (the Kampala Convention).

Respect for human life and dignity for harmonious and inclusive development:

1. Strengthen international cooperation in the fight against terrorism;
2. Take the necessary measures to adopt or maintain a moratorium on the death penalty and move towards its abolition;
3. Adopt appropriate legislative, institutional and political measures to combat torture.
4. Ratify and implement the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
5. Establish independent national mechanisms for the prevention of torture;
6. Guarantee access to a lawyer and to medical care to all detainees.

Natural resources, Africa's international economic relations and the right to development.

1. Recognize the essential role of indigenous communities in conservation efforts;
2. Issue collective land ownership certificates in appropriate cases in order to guarantee security of tenure and prevent forced displacements;
3. Recognize and give effect to the rights of indigenous peoples as defined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
4. Integrate the rights of indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities into development plans.

Justice as a pillar of sustainability: The role of the courts in promoting human rights and development objectives

1. Ratify the Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and deposit the declaration allowing individuals and NGOs direct access to the said Court;
2. Integrate and implement the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights;
3. Cooperate with African human rights protection mechanisms and implement their decisions;

Combating migration caused by conflict, climate and development:

1. Address the root causes of forced displacement;
2. Address migration and forced displacement issues through a comprehensive, coordinated, and holistic approach;
3. Further address the linkage between climate change and displacement through the adoption of appropriate laws and strategies;
4. Effectively address the issue of accountability and compensation for people forced to move due to climate-related reasons;
5. Ensure greater involvement of internally displaced persons in the search for durable solutions to their needs;
6. Convene a Conference of States Parties to the Kampala Convention to monitor and review the implementation of its objectives;
7. Ratify and fully implement the Kampala Convention;
8. Provide sustainable solutions to internally displaced persons by guaranteeing necessary conditions for voluntary return to their place of origin, local integration in the place where they have found refuge or resettlement in other parts of the country;
9. Respect the prohibition of forced displacement, except in very specific circumstances, respect the conditions for displacement, if it must take place, to be carried out in conditions that are safe for civilians, and protect civilians from the effects of hostilities that could cause displacement;
10. Collaborate with humanitarian and development actors to meet the needs of displaced people where they reside.

Freedom of association, assembly, expression and access to information as catalysts for human and sustainable development:

1. Develop requisite infrastructures to bridge the digital divide in a manner that overcomes the rural-urban divide, as well as gender-based disparities that have characterized current access to the internet and internet-enabled devices such as smart mobile phones.
2. Promote digital access by subsidizing costs of digital gadgets to increase ownership;
3. Continue development of normative frameworks and guidelines on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and open government;
4. Collaborate under the framework of the African Governance Architecture (AGA) to promote and support implementation of the respective mandates of participating organs towards creating an enabling environment for digital democracy and advocacy, including access to digital information on democratic governance through a joint open data portal;
5. Increase the use of civic technology and digital engagement within citizen engagement strategies, particularly in the arenas of citizen mobilization, learning and knowledge management;
6. Continue to provide political and financial support to civic tech initiatives at continental and national levels, e.g. the AU Civic Tech Fund, Young Innovators.
7. Ensure responsible use of social networks.

2. TO THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS:

1. Establish a comprehensive framework on the operationalisation of the right to development.
2. Urge States to adopt policies addressing poverty and economic inequalities;
3. Continue to advocate for the ratification of all African Union human rights treaties;
4. Strengthen collaboration with the Pan-African Parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice,  Human Rights and Immigration, and envisage joint missions;
5. Strengthen mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the Commission’s resolutions and decisions on torture and homicide;
6. Encourage States to establish independent oversight of police and security forces;
7. Mobilize development partners and private-sector players to ensure that economic growth respects human rights;
8. Encourage States to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, create independent national preventive mechanisms, and guarantee detainees’ access to legal counsel and medical care.

3. TO ORGANS/DEPARTMENTS WITH A HUMAN RIGHTS’ MANDATE:

1. Promote intra-African trade and free movement of people;
2. Establish within the Executive Council a committee to monitor the implementation of the decisions of the AU judicial and quasi-judicial bodies;
3. Establish sanction regime for the non-implementation of the decisions of the AU judicial and quasi-judicial bodies of the AU.

D. TO CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS:

1. Collaborate with States to ensure the realization and effective protection of the right to health, and support Government efforts ;
2. Provide training on human rights and access to African human rights mechanisms.

E. TO JUDICIAL AND QUASI-JUDICIAL BODIES: 

1. National judges should use, cite and apply international human rights conventions that States have ratified in their rulings/judgments;
2. Regional human rights mechanisms should promote and encourage the implementation of human rights treaties and decisions of the Commission and other human rights mechanisms. 

F. TO NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS: 

1. Popularize and disseminate the human rights instruments of the African Union, particularly on the right to development and help popularize the human rights approach to development; 
2. Support the implementation of the decisions/recommendations of the human rights organs of the African Union, particularly on socio-economic rights. 

Done in Banjul, The Republic of The Gambia, on 06 May 2025