Submissions on the ACHPR draft declaration on the promotion of the role of human and peoples’ rights defenders and their protection in Africa

Equality Now submitted recommendations to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on its Draft Declaration on the Promotion of the Role of Human and Peoples’ Rights Defenders and Their Protection in Africa.

The submission raises concerns that several provisions of the draft declaration risk weakening existing protections for human rights defenders by elevating vague references to “African values and traditions” above binding human rights standards. The submission emphasises the disquiet that the the rights stipulating values are given prominence over the rights pertaining to the core protection of human rights defenders especially in an environment where the anti-gender  movement has weaponised the language of values, family, and tradition to weaken international human rights protections for vulnerable groups such as women and sexual minorities through norm spoiling. Equality Now calls for a stronger rights-based framework that reinforces state obligations to protect defenders, particularly women human rights defenders, from reprisals, discrimination, violence, surveillance, and restrictions on civic space.