This compilation of documents has been prepared by the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Commissioner Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, with the assistance of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. The aim of this compilation is to bring together all the most relevant documents concerning the protection of human rights defenders in Africa, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the African Union. This publication, which appears for the first time in 2018, is timely for two particular reasons: The year 2018 marks 20 years since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. In 2018, human rights across the world, and in Africa, have increasingly made the target of government attack and recrimination.
Pretoria University Law Press PULP
www.pulp.up.ac.za
COMPENDIUM ON THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN AFRICA
PULP
COMPENDIUM ON THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN AFRICA
Compendium on the legal protection of human rights defenders in Africa
Prepared by Commissioner Prof Rémy Ngoy Lumbu
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Pretoria University Law Press PULP
This compilation of documents has been prepared by the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Commissioner Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, with the assistance of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. The aim of this compilation is to bring together all the most relevant documents concerning the protection of human rights defenders in Africa, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the African Union. This publication, which appears for the first time in 2018, is timely for two particular reasons: The year 2018 marks 20 years since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. In 2018, human rights defenders across the world, and in Africa, have increasingly been made the target of government attack and recrimination.
ISBN: 978-1-920538-85-9
Printed and bound by: Minit Print, Hatfield
To order, contact: PULP, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, 0002, Tel: +27 12 420 4948, Email: pulp@up.ac.za, www.pulp.up.ac.za
Cover: DK Igbo, Centre for Human Rights
Compiled by the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
© 2018
Table of contents
Preface by Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights... v Commissioner Prof Rémy Ngoy Lumbu
A. Declarations and Guidelines
UNITED NATIONS
Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally