from MOMODOU DIBBA in Banjul, The Gambia
Gambia Bureau
BANJUL, (CAJ News) – THE African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Commission (ACHPRC) has been urged to address the human rights violations in Zimbabwe as well as the humanitarian crises in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan.
The commission is meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, where it has also been tasked with advocating for the rights of the Chagossian people in the United Kingdom-Mauritius treaty negotiations, investigating and condemning extrajudicial killings and other abuses in counterterrorism operations across the continent.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) addressed the 83rd Ordinary Session of the ACHPRC where it raised the concerns.
It urged the commission to closely examine Zimbabwe’s human rights record during its review at this session.
According to HRW, despite some reforms, the government continues to suppress dissent through arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecutions, harassment of journalists, and excessive use of force against protesters.
It alleged the judiciary’s independence remains compromised and impunity for past abuses persisted.
HRW noted that in some African countries, counterterrorism operations had led to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances with some security forces in countries including, but not limited to, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Mozambique implicated.
Other causes for concern are escalating conflicts in Sudan and the eastern DRC, which have resulted in widespread atrocities, including mass killings, sexual violence and forced displacement.
ACHPRC has been called upon to prioritise the rights of the indigenous Chagossian people negotiations between the UK and Mauritius over the Chagos Islands.
The forced displacement of Chagossians by the UK and US governments and the continued deprivation of their access to their ancestral lands is denounced as constituting a grave injustice and an ongoing colonial crime against humanity, based on systematic racism and ethnic discrimination.
– CAJ News