DECISION ON THE FORTY-SECOND ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE AFRICAN
COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
Doc. EX.CL/1030(XXXI)
The Executive Council,
1. TAKES NOTE of the Forty-Second (42nd) Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the “ACHPR”) and URGES the ACHPR to take into consideration the concerns and reservations expressed by State Parties to the Charter on Human and People’s Rights and AUTHORIZES the publication of the Report with annexes containing responses from State Parties;
2. EXPRESSES its appreciation for the efforts deployed by the ACHPR during the reporting period to promote and protect human rights on the continent;
3. NOTES WITH APPRECIATION the positive developments which have been undertaken by States Parties to improve the human rights situation within their respective jurisdictions, and URGES the States Parties to take committed action to address the areas of concerns highlighted by the Commission;
4. URGES States Parties to submit in a timely manner their Periodic Reports in compliance with Article 62 of the African Charter and Article 26 of the Maputo Protocol and to reply promptly to the requests of information by the ACHPR on allegations of breach of human rights in State Parties;
5. REITERATES ITS CALL to States Parties to sign, ratify, domesticate and implement all regional and international human rights instruments, and URGES States Parties to sign the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa;
6. ENCOURAGES States Parties to comply with requests for Provisional Measures, Decisions and Recommendations of the ACHPR, as set out in the Communications to which they are parties, and URGES States Parties to inform the ACHPR of the measures taken to implement its Decisions in line with Rule 112 of the ACHPR’s Rules of Procedure;
7. CALLS ON the Commission to expedite recruitment for various positions at the ACHPR Secretariat, particularly with regards to Arabic and Portuguese Legal Officers and Translators;
8. ALSO CALLS on the ACHPR to rely on credible and verified sources of information in reporting on the situation of human rights in Member States and to indicate the said source in its activity report;
9. FURTHER CALLS on the ACHPR to continue implementing the Executive Council decision on the criteria to be met in granting the observer status to NGOs;
10. REQUESTS
i) the AU Commission to conduct a mission to assess governance and accountability issues in the ACHPR in order to facilitate a subsequent meeting between the leaderships of the Commission and the ACHPR to address the findings;
ii) the AU Commission in close collaboration with the ACHPR and the host country to speed up the process of construction of the new premises of the Commission in Banjul and report on progress made to the Executive Council in January 2018.
11. URGES the AU Commission to harmonize the emoluments of the Members of the Commission in line with Executive Council decisions Ext/EX.CL/Dec.1(XIII) which requests “the African Union Commission to come up with a proposal to harmonize the remuneration of elected officials of AU organs as per the Executive Council and Assembly Decisions for consideration and adoption during the July 2012 Summit;”
12. EXPRESSES ITS APPRECIATION to the Republic of Niger for the excellent facilitation accorded to the ACHPR during the 60th Ordinary Session in May 2017, and CALLS ON other States Parties to consider hosting one of the future Sessions of the ACHPR;
13. CALLS ON States Parties to participate in the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the ACHPR, which will be celebrated during the 61st Ordinary Session, from 01 to 15 November 2017, in Banjul, The Gambia.