I. BACKGROUND
1. The African Union (AU) held its 37th Summit from 17 to 18 February 2024, in Addis Ababa, under the theme: "Educating an African fit for the 21st century: building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning in Africa".
2. The African Union aims for an education revolution on the continent, to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.
3. Education is a human right that guarantees the realization of other rights.
4. To this end, the 2023 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report indicates that the out-of-school population in sub-Saharan Africa at the primary and secondary levels fell from 44% in 2000 to 29% in 2020, over the same period the youth literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa increased from 66% to 77.5% and the adult literacy rate from 52.6% in 2000 to 64.3% in 2020.
5. The importance of education is well established. Human rights education and training is essential for the long-term prevention of human rights abuses and the achievement of a just society in which the human rights of all are valued and respected.
6. As part of the alignment of its annual theme with that of the African Union, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa has chosen the following theme for its 2024 newsletter: “EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR THE PREVENTION OF TORTURE IN AFRICA”.
7. This choice reflects the cross-cutting nature of education and training, and their link with the absolute prohibition of torture. Do education and training contribute to significantly reducing the incidence of torture in Africa?
II. OBJECTIVES
8. This call seeks to collect contributions that showcase exemplary practices in education and training aimed at eradicating torture. We welcome submissions from researchers, human rights advocates, the academia, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others. The submissions should address the following indicative topics:
9. Input may come from NHRIs, NGOs, universities, research centers, international organizations, etc.
III. AREAS OF CONTRIBUTION
10. Contributions will focus on one of the following topics:
- Education and torture in Africa;
- Training of stakeholders in the criminal justice system and torture prevention;
- School and torture in Africa;
- etc.
IV. TERMS OF SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
11. To be considered, contributions must meet the following conditions:
- Maximum number of pages: 3 pages
- Times New Roman, size: 12, single line spacing for the text
- Times New Roman, size:10 single-spaced for footnotes
- Indication of the first name, surnames and institutional affiliation of the author at the bottom of the title of the article
V. SUBMISSION DEADLINE
12. Complete proposals must reach the following address no later than September 15, 2024: SakrM@africa-union.org
VI. INFORMATION NOTICE
The Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa, formerly the Robben Island Monitoring Committee, is a special mechanism of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. Its terms of reference provide that the committee must:
- Organize, with the support of other interested partners, seminars to disseminate the Robben Island Guidelines to national and international stakeholders.
- Develop and propose to the African Commission strategies for the promotion and implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines at national and regional level
- Promote and facilitate the implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines within Member States
- Report to the African Commission, at each ordinary session, on the status of implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines.
