REDRESS AND PARTNERS WELCOME ADOPTION OF FIRST AFRICAN INSTRUMENT TO END ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN AFRICA

Joint Press release

24 May 2022 – REDRESS together with partner organizations Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), MENA Rights Group, Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL) and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) welcome the adoption of the first African instrument aimed to eradicate and prevent enforced disappearances, and to improve the situation of victims.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Africa’s main human rights body, announced the adoption of the Guidelines for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in Africa on 13 May 2022, at its 71^st Ordinary Session in Banjul, The Gambia.

The adoption of the Guidelines follows efforts by the organizations working in Africa to bring the issue of enforced disappearances to the attention of key stakeholders, including the need to do more to secure justice and accountability to victims. As part of a project on enforced disappearances, the organisations published several detailed reports with recommendations for legal and policy reform, highlighting the plight of those seeking justice, the lack of remedies available to victims, and the widespread use of the practice by governments in Africa. The organisations also engaged with the African Commission, UN bodies, human rights lawyers, victims, and civil society, activists and human rights defenders.

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