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Strengthening Collaboration between Universities and Civil Society in Africa
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Academic
institutions play a crucial role in fostering peaceful activism, which
is especially important 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
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More from the Secretariat |
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- 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:
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- 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;
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| Did
you know all the episodes of our podcast series "Exile Shall Not
Silence Us”, on African human rights defenders in exile are out?
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- 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
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On
Pan-African Women’s Day, AfricanDefenders and DefendDefenders in
collaboration with Kuhluka Movement celebrated the essential work done
by courageous women human right defenders (WHRDs) across the
continent,who usually facing more risk of experiencing GBV as a form of
reprisal and harassment for promoting human rights often .. We also
launched the #Justice4AllWomxn campaign which highlighted the case of
Josina Machel, an activist against gender-based violence who became a
victim herself;
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- Between
July and August we received 11 applications for support of which two
were approved one was referred and eight are still under review;
- AfricanDefenders
organised a Steering Committee meeting in which the action points and
implementation of the Zanzibar Convention, Terms of Reference of the
Steering Committee and ground rules for collaborative planning were
discussed;
We participated in the following webinar events:
- The
Relevance of the AU’s Silencing the Guns campaign for African civil
society organised by the Center for Human Rights – University of
Pretoria; and
- The 2020 National Endowment for Democracy democracy award event that paid tribute to the people of Sudan and their historic 2019
revolution. The event honored three organizations working tirelessly to
strengthen civil society in Sudan.
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North Africa:
- The Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS) released a statement
condemning the sentencing of Photojournalist Ismail Al-Zoui from Libya.
He was sentenced to 15 years of prison after being arbitrarily detained
for 20 months by internal security services in a military prison in
Benghazi; and
- CIHRS also released a statement condemning the investigation into the editor-in-chief, Nora Younis, of
the online publication Al-Manassa. Younis was arrested within the
context of the ongoing violations of freedom of the press in Egypt.
East and Horn of Africa:
Southern Africa:
- The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SARHDN) released a statement condemning the arrest of Journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono and opposition leader Jacob Ngarivhume in Zimbabwe; and
- Read SAHRDN’s statement of
solidarity for the Eswatini Sexual And Gender Minorities Advocacy
Group’s right to organise. The group filed a case against Eswatini’s
Registrar of Companies which refused to legally register the Eswatini
Sexual and Gender Minorities (ESGM) as a human rights organisation that
seeks to advance the protection and promotion of LGBTI persons in the
country in 2019.
Have your read SAHRDN’s and Daily Maverick’s weekly southern Africa human rights roundup yet?
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- FrontLineDefenders
partnered up with artists across the world to create Cypher, a digital
comics magazine that advances the organization’s storytelling and
narrative framing work in collaboration with and in support of HRDs.
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- The
call for applications for the 2021 East Africa Human Rights Program is
open. The deadline for applications is 28 September 2020!!
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- Defenders Coalition’s – Kenya reporton the status of human rights defenders in Kenya During COVID-19; and
- DefendDefenders and CIVICUS joint report on Rwanda’s human rights record with a focus on civic space since the country’s last Universal Periodic Review (2015).
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For more information, please contact /Pour plus d'informations veuillez contacter:
Hassan Shire, Chairperson/President AfricanDefenders: executive@defenddefenders.org
Joseph Bikanda, Coordinator/Coordinateur AfricanDefenders: panafrica@defenddefenders.org
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AfricanDefenders
AfricanDefenders
(the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network) is a network of five
sub-regional organisations, national coalitions for human rights
defenders, and individual defenders, dedicated to the promotion and
protection of human rights defenders across the African continent.
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NOUVELLES D'AfricanDefenders | Juillet et août 2020
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Renforcer la collaboration entre les universités et la société civile en Afrique
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Les
institutions universitaires jouent un rôle crucial dans l'encouragement
de l'activisme pacifique, ce qui est particulièrement important alors
que l'espace civique se réduit dans le monde entier et que les
défenseurs des droits de l'homme (DDH) continuent à être confrontés à
des menaces et répression. Dans ce contexte, AfricanDefenders a organisé
un webinaire sur
le renforcement de la collaboration entre les universités et la société
civile en Afrique. Ce webinaire a réuni des institutions
universitaires, des organisations de la société civile (OSC) et des
défenseurs des droits de l'homme d'Afrique et d'ailleurs afin d'explorer
les possibilités de collaboration et d'échange de bonnes pratiques. Il
s'agissait de la première étape vers l'élaboration de plans concrets de
collaboration et la création d'une plateforme pour des échanges continus
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- 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 :
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- 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 u
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NEWS FROM AfricanDefenders | July & August2020
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