AND
POST-ABORTION CARE AS TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING PUNISHMENT OR TREATMENT
Presented to the 61st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
Banjul, The Gambia, 01 to 15 November 2017
Commissioner Lawrence M. Mute Chairperson, Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa Member, Working Group on Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities Member, Working Group on Specific Issues Related to the work of the African Commission
Email: lamumu07@gmail.com
Contents
I: Introduction ... 3 II: Inter-sessional Activities ... 4 III: Denial of Abortion and Post-Abortion Care as Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment or Treatment ... 7 IV: Conclusion and Recommendations ... 13
I: Introduction
- This Report is prepared pursuant to Rules 23 (3) and 72 of the Rules of Procedure of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Commission), which requires each of the African Commission's subsidiary mechanisms to present a report on its work at each Ordinary Session, and each Commissioner to submit a report similarly on promotion activities undertaken during the inter-session. I submit this Report in my capacity as a Member of the African Commission, the Chairperson of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa ('CPTA' or 'the Committee'), Member of the Working Group on Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities, and Member of the Working Group on Specific Issues Related to the work of the African Commission.
- This Report covers the inter-session between the 60th and the 61st Ordinary Sessions of the African Commission, during the period May to November 2017. It also provides an analysis on the theme 'Denial of Abortion and Post-Abortion Care as Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment or Treatment.'
- The Report is divided into this introduction; my inter-sessional activities; a thematic report on 'Reproductive Violence as Torture'; and recommendations.
- Annexed to this Report is a compilation and assessment of all the work done by the CPTA during my tenure as its Chairperson, from 2014 to 2017.
II: Inter-sessional Activities
- I undertook the following activities as a member of the African Commission:
a. From 27 June to 04 July 2017, I attended the 29th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the course of the Session, I attended and participated in the following meetings: the 34th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee; the 31st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council; and the 29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
b. Additionally, on the margins of the Summit, I participated in a courtesy call made by the African Commission's delegation on the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, H.E. Cessouma Minata Samate, where discussions on the mutual human rights mandates of the Department of Political Affairs and the African Commission were discussed.