17 Sep

Posted at 12:07h in Uncategorized

Notable Faints

Strengthen collaboration between universities and civil society in Africa

Academic institutions play a crucial role in fostering peaceful activism, which is especially important as civic space shrinks around the world and human rights defenders (HRDs) continue to be faced with threats and repression. In this context, AfricanDefenders organized a  webinar on strengthening collaboration between universities and civil society in Africa. This webinar brought together academic institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs) and human rights defenders from Africa and beyond to explore possibilities for collaboration and exchange of good practices. This was the first step towards developing concrete plans for collaboration and creating a platform for ongoing exchanges.  

More from the secretariat

  • Hassan Shire, le président d'AfricanDefenders et directeur exécutif de DefendDefenders, s'est joint au président de la Commission Africaine des Droits de l'Homme et des Peuples pour prononcer un discours d'ouverture au Forum sur la participation des ONG à la 66e session ordinaire de la Commission africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples (CADHP66), appelant les États membres de l'Union africaine à construire une Union centrée sur les personnes, fondée sur un engagement véritable et une bonne volonté politique afin de parvenir à un continent pacifique, une société égale et juste en Afrique;
  • AfricanDefenders a également fait les présentations orales suivantes lors de la CADHP66 :
  • Hassan Shire, a appelé le gouvernement guinéen à respecter le processus judiciaire dans le pays et à libérer l'activiste Saikou Yaya Diallo. M. Diallo est détenu illégalement depuis plus de deux mois malgré deux ordonnances de libération rendues par la justice;
  • AfricanDefenders, DefendDefenders et plus de 40 organisations partenaires ont publié une déclaration exhortant les États à soutenir le renouvellement du mandat de la Commission d'enquête sur le Burundi à la veille de la 45e session du Conseil des droits de l'homme des Nations unies;
  • AfricanDefenders s'est joint à la voix de plus de 40 organisations de la société civile et experts juridiques et des droits de l'homme pour appeler les autorités zimbabwéennes à respecter la liberté d'expression et le droit de Beatrice Mtetwa, avocate des droits de l'homme, et à exercer sa profession, après la décision du tribunal de première instance du Zimbabwe de la priver de son droit de continuer à assurer la défense de la journaliste Hopewell Chin'ono, qui est jugée pour "incitation à la violence publique" après avoir révélé un scandale de corruption. La déclaration a été publiée dans les publications locales d'information en ligne Today News Africa et Pindula News ;
  • AfricanDefenders et d'autres organisations de la société civile ont publié une déclaration appelant à la libération du chanteur nigérian Yahaya Sharif Aminu qui a été reconnu coupable et condamné à mort pour avoir prétendument insulté le prophète Mahomet dans une chanson qu'il a publiée. Cette déclaration a été mise en évidence par les publications en ligne PMNews et PUNCH;
  • Avec nos partenaires, AfricanDefenders a publié une déclaration de solidarité avec la Coalition tanzanienne des défenseurs des droits de l'homme, appelant le gouvernement tanzanien à respecter la liberté d'association de l'organisation et à débloquer leurs comptes bancaires pour leur permettre de poursuivre leur travail légitime de défense des droits de l'homme 

Saviez-vous que tous les épisodes de notre série de podcasts "Exile Shall Not Silence Us", sur les défenseurs des droits humains africains en exil sont disponible ?

[button size='medium' style='' text='Ecoutez!' icon='fa-headphones' icon_color='' link='https://soundcloud.com/user-936578854/exile-shall-not-silence-us-episode-15' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='']    
  • Lors de la journée internationale de la jeunesse 2020, AfricanDefenders et DefendDefenders ont souligné le travail de cinq jeunes militantes exceptionnels soudanaises qui ont partagé leurs points de vue sur la participation de la jeunesse dans le travail des droits de l'homme; [button size='medium' style='' text='Lisez ce qu’elles ont à dire !' icon='fa-newspaper-o' icon_color='' link='https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=AfricanDefenders&set=a.1512509392262839&_rdc=1&_rdr' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='']
 

17 Sep

Posted at 10:44h in AfricanDefenders, Newsletter
Notre newsletter est maintenant aussi en français!  Consultez la version française ci-dessous.

Highlights

Strengthening Collaboration between Universities and Civil Society in Africa

Academic institutions play a crucial role in fostering peaceful activism, which is especially crucial as civic space is shrinking across the globe and human rights defenders (HRDs) continue to face threats and repression. In this context, AfricanDefenders hosted a webinar on strengthening collaboration between universities and civil society in Africa. The webinar brought together academic institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs), and HRDs from within and outside Africa to explore opportunities for collaboration and exchange best practices. This was the first step towards developing concrete plans for collaboration and creating a platform for continuous exchanges.

More from the Secretariat

  • Hassan Shire, the chairperson of AfricanDefenders and Executive Director of DefendDefenders, joined the Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’Rights in delivering an opening statement at the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 66th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR66), calling on Member States of the African Union to build the Union, which is people-centered and based on genuine commitment, and political goodwill in order to achieve a peaceful continent, an equal and just society in Africa;
  • AfricanDefenders also made the following oral submissions at the ACHPR66:
  • Hassan Shire, called on the Guinean government to respect the judicial process in the country and release the activist , Saikou Yaya Diallo. Mr. Diallo has been illegally detained for over two months despite two court-issued release orders;
  • AfricanDefenders, DefendDefenders and more than 40 partners released a statement urging States to support the renewal of the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 45th session;
  • AfricanDefenders joined the voice of over 40 civil society organisations and human rights and legal experts in calling on the Zimbabwean authorities to respect, Beatrice Mtetwa’s , a human rights lawyer, freedom of expression and the right to practice her profession, after Zimbabwean Magistrates’ Court decision to disqualify her from continuing as defence legal counsel for journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who is being tried for “ inciting public violence” after exposing a corruption scandal. The statement was featured in local online news publications Today News Africa and Pindula News;
  • AfricanDefenders and other civil society organisations released a statement calling for the release of Nigerian Singer Yahaya Sharif Aminu who was convicted and sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a song he published. The statement was highlighted by online publications PUNCH and PMNews
  • Together with our partners, AfricanDefenders released a statement of solidarity with the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition, calling on the Tanzanian government to respect the organisation’s freedom of association and to unfreeze their bank accounts to enable them to continue with their legitimate human rights work;

Did you know all the episodes of our podcast series “Exile Shall Not Silence Us”, on African human rights defenders in exile are out?

[button size='medium' style='' text='Listen In!' icon='fa-headphones' icon_color='' link='https://soundcloud.com/user-936578854/exile-shall-not-silence-us-episode-15' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='']    
  • On international youth day 2020, AfricanDefenders and Defend Defenders highlighted the work of five young outstanding Sudanese activists who shared their views on youth representation in human rights activism
[button size='medium' style='' text='Read what they have to say!' icon='fa-newspaper-o' icon_color='' link='https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=AfricanDefenders&set=a.1512509392262839&_rdc=1&_rdr' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='']

15 Sep

Posted at 13:05h in AfricanDefenders

Today is #DemocracyDay2020. As of last year, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) has been ratified by 34 and signed by 46 out of 55 African States. The charter was adopted as the African Union’s main normative instrument to set standards for...

10 Sep

Posted at 07:47h in AfricanDefenders

[button size='small' style='' text='ACHPR GUIDELINES ENGLISH' icon='fa-align-center' icon_color='' link='https://africandefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ACHPR-Guidelines-english.pdf' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='center' margin=''] [button size='small' style='' text='ACHPR GUIDELINES ARABIC' icon='fa-align-center' icon_color='' link='https://africandefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ACHPR-Guidelines-Arabic.pdf' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='center' margin=''] [button size='small' style='' text='ACHPR GUIDELINES FRENCH' icon='fa-align-center'...

08 Sep

Posted at 15:52h in Southern Africa

Source: The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders network In the latest Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Legal Monitor (LM) Protest Edition, the spotlight was on renowned Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga and several other human rights defenders, who were arrested for engaging in protests and how from Bulawayo...