I- Editorial Newsletter October 2024
The development and prosperity of any nation depends on the health and education of its people. Nations that provide the necessary care and educate their young people enjoy the highest rates of development. With this in mind, the African Union has declared 2024 the Year of Education. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa has taken up the theme of our continental organisation and made it the slogan for the same year, seeing education as the best means of preventing torture in Africa.
This is true at two levels. Educated populations are more aware of their rights and duties and are less likely to accept ill-treatment, degrading acts or torture. Law enforcement officers who have been trained at the best universities in the legal or human sciences and who have been made aware of human rights and universal principles will be less inclined to resort to torture in their day-to-day work.
Since its creation, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa has encouraged African States to provide continuing human rights training for law enforcement officers and prison staff. It has also made its expertise and that of its partners available to our States to carry out this training.
This newsletter brings together the thoughts and proposals of our eminent partners who have kindly joined us in sharing their work on this year's theme with the community of human rights defenders in Africa. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights warmly thanks them for their kind contribution and their efforts to eradicate torture in Africa.
Commissioner Hatem Essaiem
Chairperson of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa
