The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission), at its 83rd Ordinary Session held from 2 to 22 May 2025 in Banjul, The Gambia, adopted Resolution ACHPR/Res.633 (LXXXIII) 2025 on Developing General Comment on the Protection and Promotion of the Right to Environment in Africa in terms of Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter).
The Resolution falls within the framework of Article 45 (1)(b) of the African Charter, which empowers the Commission to "Formulate and elaborate, with a view to serving as a basis for the adoption of legislative texts by African governments, principles and rules which make it possible to resolve legal problems relating to the enjoyment of human and peoples' rights and fundamental freedoms".
The Commission entrusted the development of the General Comment to the Chairperson of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa.
The proposed General Comment seeks to provide normative guidance on the scope and content of the right to a satisfactory, clean, healthy and sustainable environment as guaranteed under the African Charter and interpreted through the jurisprudence of the Commission and other relevant regional and international human rights standards.
As part of this process, the Chairperson of the Working Group convened an inception workshop and expert consultations in 2025 to inform the conceptual framework and thematic scope of the General Comment. Following these engagements, a draft outline and background report were developed. The draft outline was further updated following inputs received during the meeting held on the sidelines of the Regional Forum on Extractive Industries, Business and Human Rights and Environment in Dakar, Senegal, on 6 May 2026.
In this respect, the Chairperson of the Working Group hereby invites State Parties, National Human Rights Institutions, civil society organisations, indigenous communities, academia, environmental and human rights experts, development partners, and other interested stakeholders to provide substantive written input to assist in developing the content of the draft outline of the General Comment.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Submissions may address, among others, the following areas:
• The normative content and scope of the right to environment under the African Charter;
• State obligations relating to environmental protection, climate change, biodiversity, conservation and sustainable development;
• Procedural environmental rights, including access to information, participation, and access to justice;
• The rights of vulnerable groups, including women, children, older persons, youth, and persons with disabilities, in environmental governance;
• Business and human rights obligations relating to environmental harm and extractive industries;
• Environmental defenders and civic space; and
• Remedies, accountability and reparations for environmental harm.
Proposed outline for the General Comment
1. The GC starts with an introduction that outlines the background to and the problems that the ACHPR seeks to address through the GC including
a. Pioneer role of the right to environment under the African Charter
b. historical injustices and structural inequalities
c. analysis of the genesis of the right to environment as set out in the African Charter and protocols relating thereto and its link to other African and international instruments on the environment
d. Recent and new developments relating to the right to environment
2. objectives and scope of the general comment.
3. Applicable principles
a. Non-discrimination
b. Interdependence and indivisibility of rights
c. Non-retrogression
d. Best available science and precaution
e. Necessity, justifiability, legality and proportionality for restricting the right to environment
4. Scope, nature and content of the right to environment and the protection it guarantees
a. the nature of the right as a right on its own and as a pre-condition for the enjoyment of other tights
b. the constituent elements of the right to safe environment
i. clean air and water
ii. healthy ecosystem and biodiversity
iii. a safe and stable climate
c. the right to environment in relation to specific rights of the African Charter.
i. Life
ii. Personal security
iii. dignity
iv. Health
v. Food
vi. Livelihoods
vii. Water
viii. Housing
d. The right to environment and other peoples’ rights
i. The right to existence and self-determination
ii. The right to natural resources
iii. The right to development
iv. The right to peace and security
e. The right to environment and groups in conditions of vulnerability
i. Women
ii. Children
iii. Affected communities, including those who depend on farming, pastoralism and fishing
iv. Indigenous peoples and minorities
v. Environmental defenders
5. The nature and scope of the obligations of states and businesses in relation to the right to environment
a. General obligations
i. Article 1 obligation relating to the right to environment
ii. Responsibility of States parties for threats to the environment
iii. Minimum core obligations
iv. deliberate, concrete, and targeted measures for creating a safe and clean environment
b. Substantive guarantees
i. Duty to respect,
ii. Duty to protect,
iii. Duty to promote and
iv. Duty to fulfil
c. Procedural guarantees
i. Environmental impact assessment
ii. Freedom of expression including media freedom and access to information,
iii. Freedom of peaceful assembly
iv. Freedom of association
v. The right to participate in public affairs and consultation, including FPIC
d. obligations arising from international environmental law and international law instruments on climate change via Article 60 of the African Charter
e. The right to environment and Article 60 of the African Charter in relation to
i. International financial arrangements
ii. Trade and investment frameworks
iii. Conservation agreements
iv. Carbon credit trading schemes
f. Prevention of and accountability for environmental crimes
g. Extraterritorial responsibility and international cooperation
6. Obligation of businesses
i. Obligation to respect human rights and environmental standards
ii. Institute and implement measures of due diligence and due care to prevent environmental harm
iii. Redress and environmental rehabilitation
iv. Obligation to protect, conserve, and sustain the environment
v. Transparency and accountability
7. Monitoring, enforcing and reporting
a. Role of environmental defenders, CSOs and affected communities
b. Guarantees against misuse of laws, including criminalisation and SLAPPs
c. protection and use of indigenous knowledge
d. Role of NHRIs
e. Regulatory institutions and administrative enforcement
f. Judicial and non-judicial dispute settlement
i. Administrative, civil and criminal accountability
ii. Compensation, reparation and rehabilitation
iii. Domestic justice and regional courts
g. State reporting
The background report and the draft outline of the General Comment are attached to this Call for Submissions.
Link to the Background Report and Draft Outline
HOW AND WHERE TO SUBMIT INPUTS
1. Deadline: 20 June 2026
2. Email submissions to: au-banjul@africanunion.org, copying Chikombai@africanunion.org and reneelaryea@gmail.com
3. Format and language: Written submissions in English, French, or Portuguese, with clear referencing to specific sections of the background report and draft outline, where applicable.
4. Page limit: Concise contributions preferred (max. 5 pages).
