Banjul, 5 October 2020
IHRDA on 30 September 2020 organized a seminar for Commissioners of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), on transitional justice and human and peoples’ rights in Africa.
The seminar follows the launching of the report for the study on transitional justice and human and peoples’ rights in Africa, and the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP) by the ACHPR during its 64th Ordinary Session in April 2019. The aim of the seminar was to enable Members of the ACHPR to engage with the contents of the transitional justice study and the AUTJP, as well as matters related to transitional justice on the continent, in order to discuss the various ways in which the mechanisms and tools of the ACHPR could be applied to address human rights concerns in the context of transitional justice. The seminar was also intended to enable the ACHPR to brainstorm on other ways to take forward the recommendations of the transitional justice study.
During the seminar, participants discussed transitional justice concepts, principles, mechanisms and current issues in the discourse and practice of transitional justice in Africa; African Charter-based approach to transitional justice and the AUTJP in Africa; integrating transitional justice into the ACHPR’s protection and promotional mandates; responding to emerging transitional justice developments in the region; and gender-based violence in armed conflicts in the African context.
The seminar falls within the framework of a project funded by “The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation” to support the African Union transitional justice policy framework.
