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The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) should focus on demanding accountability and supporting efforts to tackle impunity, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) declares in an intervention to the 45th Session of the Commission. The intervention focuses on Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, countries in the East and Horn of Africa region where the present human rights situation is of particular concern.

EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS NETWORK

Oral Statement

EHAHRD-Net Index: UGA 011/008/2009

13th May 2009

Banjul: Support efforts to fight impunity and end the current legal affront against HRDs

The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) should focus on demanding accountability and supporting efforts to tackle impunity, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) declares in an intervention to the 45th Session of the Commission.

The intervention focuses on Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, countries in the East and Horn of Africa region where the present human rights situation is of particular concern.

Based on a wider report produced by East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) for the NGO forum and the Commission, Mr Hassan Shire Sheikh’s, Chairperson of EHAHRD-Net, intervention reveals how the human rights situation in the region has seen very few improvements in the last six months and significant deteriorations in the countries above mentioned.

According to EHAHRD-Net the Commission can help to fully address the issue of impunity by calling for the establishment of independent and impartial accountability mechanisms in countries where an impartial national investigation is unlikely to take place and by offering support to national, regional and international efforts aimed at bringing an end to the culture of impunity; a culture which clearly perpetuates human rights violations in the region.

The intervention also highlights the deteriorating legal and security environment for human rights defenders (HRDs) throughout the region. As Mr Hassan Shire Sheikh, Chairperson of EHAHRD-Net, points out: “This dire human rights situation clearly goes hand in hand with a deterioration in several countries of the situation facing HRDs since the November 2008 Commission Session, notably as a result of increasing legislative measures against defenders as well as recent attacks on the right to life of HRDs. This reality is of particular concern at a time when their work is more vital than ever before.”

The intervention therefore also encourages the ACHPR to use its influence in order to guarantee that current restrictions on HRDs notably on freedom of expression and association are brought to an immediate end.

Reference is made to the recent Johannesburg + 10 All African Human Rights Defenders Conference, which took place from the 20th-23RD of April 2009 in Kampala, organised by EHAHRDP under the auspices of Mme Alapini-Gansou, the Special Rapporteur of the ACHPR on HRDs, as an example of the momentous efforts underway by African HRDs themselves to enhance collaboration and their protection across the continent.

For more information please contact Mr Hassan Shire Sheikh, Executive Director of EHAHRDP on +256 772 753 753 or +220 790 1605 or Ms Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Officer at EHAHRDP on +257 79 29 7806/ [email][email protected]

Please see the intervention below and visit [email protected], [email][email protected]
Website: http://www.yorku.ca/crs/AHRDP/index.html