 OK, welcome everyone and so sorry for this delay, there are always some technical issues in doing this online webinar. My name is Roberto Serrentino and I'm the Global Protection Cluster Human Rights Consultant. I will be your moderator today. This event is taking place in the framework of the Humanitarian Networks and Partnership Week 2022 and we are happy to see that there are many people connected from different operations, many protection actors and humanitarians. The event is organized by the Human Rights Engagement Task Team, which is co-chaired by UNHCR and by our colleagues, Hayzaya Torotich, from the World Lutheran Federation and Elisa Gazzotti from Sokka Gakai International. The topic of the event today is the engagement with the African Human Rights Mechanism to strengthen the protection of people affected by humanitarian crisis. We will first hear from Patrick Eba, who is the Deputy Director at the Division of International Protection of UNHCR. And then we will give the floor to our distinguished panelists. We're happy to have today Dr. Ashwani Budo, Program Manager at the Center for Human Rights University of Portugal, who will give us an overview of the African Human Rights Mechanism. Then we will hear from Honorable Commissioner Jeanette Sallanger, special rapporteur on the rights of women in Africa. We will hear then from Mr. Clement Nialeto-Cibule, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to Peaceful Assembly and Freedom of Association, who will give us some good practices and lessons on the engagement with the African Human Rights Mechanism. Before starting, please allow me to share some housekeeping rules. The meeting will last one hour and an hour. I see that you have already started introducing yourself in the chat. So for the people who just joined, please keep doing that. So we can know who is with us today. We encourage you to use the chat to share ideas, reactions to the presentation by the panelists, and questions. We will monitor the chat and bring back your ideas and questions to the discussion. But feel also free to raise your hand and take the floor during the question and answer section. And then one last thing, please mute your microphone throughout the whole event and be reminded that this webinar is recorded. Before diving into the discussion, I would like to give the floor to Patrick Eba, Deputy Director of the Division of International Protection of UNICR. Patrick, the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you very much, Maria, for giving me the floor. Dear colleagues and friends, it's a true pleasure to have this opportunity to join with you and to share a couple of reflections as we start this important conversation. Colleagues and friends, while the idea and the principles of human rights actually do permeate all the work of humanitarian actors, the truth is that the effective use of the language of human rights and the mechanisms of prevention, accountability and redress that are offered by human rights remain very limited. The reason for this has been long debated, but to us at UNHCR, the very existence of this human rights engagement task team of the GPC is a clear reflection of how intertwined and complementary the work of humanitarian actors is to that of human rights stakeholders. But the fact that we do not collaborate enough between humanitarian actors and human rights actors is particularly true in the African context because our interactions are very limited. But this situation, to be honest, is actually very ironic because at its core, the human rights system in Africa was elaborated in response to major humanitarian crises. Let us remember that it was the atrocities and violations committed on its people by the brutal regime of Idi Amin in Uganda and the violations committed by Bokasar on the population of the Central African Republic that convinced governments and other stakeholders on the continent to push for the adoption in 1981 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. Some 12 years earlier, the OAU adopted the convention on governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa in response to the massive displacement that the continent witnessed in the context of the liberation struggle as well as the newly independent countries. The norms of the human rights system in Africa do actually offer some very specific and useful features that can support the advocacy and effort of humanitarian actors. This includes the equal emphasis that we see in the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on both civil and political rights as well as on socioeconomic rights. This includes the absence of a deregation clause to the rights that are guaranteed under the African Charter in matters that have been long discussed as well. But we also have in the African Human Rights System the existence of the sole convention globally that looks at the specific issues that affect displaced persons. And that is the AU convention for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons in Africa known as the Kampala Convention. In addition to the specific features of its normative content, the African Human Rights System that also offer a number of critical institutions and mechanisms that are relevant to the work of humanitarian actors. Some of these institutions can be extremely strategic when we are confronted with political challenges. Some of these institutions can be alternative channels that can help in seeking justice and obtaining effective remedies when national systems are compromised or inadequate. We've seen it including recently through the engagement of the African Commission in the Ethiopian situation. We've seen several subsidiary organs of the African Commission engage at the time of crisis across the continent. This is critical. This shows how we as humanitarian actors can better work and engage with the African Human Rights System. Yet our engagement, as I said, remains limited. Often because we do not know well the African Human Rights System and this is why the webinar of today is so critical. It will allow us to better understand how the mandates of the African System operate. And we have the opportunity today to hear from three main human rights mechanisms of the African Human Rights System. I hope that in the course of this conversation, each one of you, regardless of the context where you work, regardless of the institutions that you represent, will be inspired by the very important perspective and tools that the African Human Rights System, through its mechanism and through its norm, offer to all of us as humanitarian actors. Thank you very much. And wishing you all a good conversation. Thank you so much, Patrick. And sorry for the delay, my team is very slow. Thank you so much, first of all, for mentioning the unique features of the African Charter of Human People's Rights that can support advocacy protection cluster and the three generations of human rights that are included in the African Charter and also stressing that those mechanisms can provide alternative channels to seek justice. I will now move to our first distinguished panelist, Dr. Ashwani Budo, Program Manager at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. Dr. Budo, could you please give us an overview of the three main African human rights mechanisms? Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Roberta. As a disclaimer, I'm recovering from COVID. So I'm coughing a lot at the moment. In case I go in one of the fits, please bear with me. Distinguished guests and all participants, it is a pleasure to be here with you all today. So Roberta mentioned that the objective is to really familiarize ourselves with the African human rights system. So I will delve in an overview of the African human rights system. Please, like it might be a bit too basic for those of us who work in the field and interact with the human rights system on a daily basis, but please bear with me, especially for those of us who really have been working more with the UN human rights system and have really interacted with the African human rights system. Next slide, please. So my presentation will be divided into two. First, talk a little bit about what the African human rights system is. Look at the treaties and the treaty monitoring bodies. And then the last slide will be on how to interact. So in the instance of how to interact, you will see that, as I've mentioned, interacting with special mechanisms which would include working groups or special reporters. And we have Honorable Commissioner Ramatulai with us who will delve into more details on how to interact with a special mechanism. So I will not delve into that. Next slide, please. So similar to the United Nations human rights system, which is arranged and has members of different countries in the world, the African human rights system is an arrangement by the African states. And it is organized under those pieces of the African Union, which came into being in 2002 through its consecutive act. And it was formally known as the organization of African unity for the protection of human rights in the African continent. So we are the youngest of the three regional human rights system. The EU and the inter-American human rights system were created more or less at the same time. So we are running a bit behind if I can use the word. And the African human rights system coexists alongside instruments and mechanisms adopted at sub-regional level under those pieces of regional economic communities. So while there was the dialogue to create the African Union for integration, there was at the same time through the Lumet and Abuja declaration to have sub-regional organizations to ensure better economic integration at the sub-regional level. So the African human rights, the African Union rather recognizes eight sub-regional economic communities, but only three of them usually delve into human rights issues, which is they co-asked the economic community of Western African states, the East African community and the Southern African development community. So when we talk about the African human rights system, they also form part of the African human rights system, but we won't delve into that today. We'll just look at the human rights mechanisms that have been created at the African Union level. The next slide, please. So the African human rights system basically was created by the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, which was adopted in 1981. So the African Charter was inspired by an African conception of human rights, because as those of you're working with the United Nations, you can see that you already have a lot of documents that you use and you apply in African countries. You have all the nine co-human rights treaties of the UN, but this one was, it was mostly inspired by an African concept. And it has, for instance, it recognizes culture in its preamble. It recognizes people in its preamble. And so this was adopted in the 1980s, when the African Union was not yet, was not yet, how do you call it, institutionalized, but it was under those pieces of the Organization of African Unity. And now at the moment, the Organization in African Unity and the African Union together have adopted a range of treaties and soft-clothes in the forms of resolutions, general comment, guidelines, and concluding observations that form the African human rights system. Next slide, please. So the African Charter and the African human rights system comprises of human rights treaty adopted by the African Union, resolutions, general comments, concluding observations, jurisprudence. Next slide, please. So there are many regional human rights treaties. And the first one, as I mentioned, is the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. Then there's an African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which focuses on children's rights, and it has its own monitoring and implementation treaty body, which is the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Then there's the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa that we call the Maputo Protocol. And its monitoring body is the African Commission or the African Court. And then there's the African Court Protocol, which establishes an African Court on Human and People's Rights. There's the Compiler Convention, and then the two conventions, the two protocols to the African Charter that have been adopted, but which are not yet enforced, are the protocol on older persons and the protocol on the rights of persons with disabilities. So at the moment, CSOs and the African Union are carrying out ratification campaigns with African States to ratify these two protocols so that they can be enforced. Next slide, please. So there are the African Commission and the African Children's Committee have adopted many general comments. The one in this slide focused, yes? The one in this slide focuses on general comments of the African Commission. The latest one was adopted in 2020 and it was on the right to property of women during divorce and separation. But the African Children's Committee, as I mentioned, also has developed many general comments concerning the rights of the child under the African Children's Charter. Next slide, please. So there are three main human rights bodies at the African Union level. First, we have the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, which was established by the African Charter. Then we have the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, established by the African Children's Charter, and we have the African Court on Human and People's Rights. So this slide basically talks about when they were established, when they were in their seat. Sorry, what mandates they have and what is the jurisdiction and the different functions that each of these human rights bodies are. So if we look at the functions, we can see that for the African Commission and the African, sorry, for the African Commission and the African Children's Committee, they engage in state reporting procedure, they handle complaints, they set standards through a soft law, they undertake country missions, undertake studies, and in some instances, they deal with urgent interventions. Whereas the African Court on Human and People's Rights only adjudicates on cases and gives advisory opinion. So it's more of a judicial human rights body and it doesn't really develop soft law per se. Next slide, please. So all of the institutions have 11 experts, they have different qualifications that they require. But and then the African Commission and the African Children's Committee have special mechanisms. So the African Commission, however, unlike the UN Human Rights System, where members of your special mechanisms do not necessarily need to be forming part of a treaty monitoring body, here at the African Commission level, all the commissioners, or like all members, like for instance, the Special Rapporteur is a commissioner of the African Commission. So it's not external persons, but persons who are within the African Commission and that sometimes can pose a problem because of the workload that they have. And in terms of sessions, the African Commission has four sessions, two are public and two are private. The African Children's Committee has two and the African Court has four. Next slide, please. So they each similar to a treaty monitoring bodies at the UN levels, they each have different documents that govern the day to day running, for instance, they have rules of procedures, they have guidelines, they have practice directions and they have different resolutions. In terms of the nature of the decisions, the African Commission and the African Children's Committee, committee's decisions are just recommendations. So they are not binding on African States and the African Court issues binding judgments, but then in terms of implementation also, I think there was a study carried out by the African Court where it was found that only 7% of the African Court's decisions have been implemented. So they have appointed, or they're in the process of appointing someone to ensure implementation of decisions, but I think implementation is challenging even if they are binding judgments. So next slide, please. Concerning how to engage with the African Human Rights System. So firstly, you can always, the UN can always make statements during the African Commission's sessions. Secondly, norm development. So the general comments that are being developed by the African Commission, by the African Children's Committee, the UN can, the different organs or different offices can also participate in norm development. I remember we had, we like together with the then special reporter on the rights of women in Africa, we were developing their general comment on child marriage. Then we also worked with UNICEF, Mozambique a little bit to provide us guidance on the general comment. So that can be an entry point. I think the most efficient way would be to work with special mechanisms. So I'll let Commissioner Ramatulai after the presentation to talk a little bit about how to interact with her mechanism of the special reporter generally. And then when there's the process of state reporting, you can also present shadow reports that raises issues with recommendations. Another issue that I did not mention in this, and now I'm thinking about it, is engagement with national human rights institutions and CSOs during the pre-session of the African Commission. So usually there are many pre-sessions that happen before the African Commission session by NGOs, in collaboration with the African Commission, of course, because I know for instance, the network of national human rights institutions, and I think the OHCHO also is a developmental partner with that. So they, for instance this year, before the African Commission session, they had a session on business and human rights. You can also push for a session on migration related issues, and then they give recommendations to the African Commission. And as per, I think it's Resolution 371, I can't remember now, the African Commission. They're supposed to work in collaboration with the African Commission, but there's also the Addis Ababa Roadmap through which the African Union and the UN generally should work together. So it's good to look at that roadmap and see how you can have entry points with the different African human rights system. So this brings me to an end of the presentation. Thank you very much, and I hope you have a better idea of how to interact with the African human rights system going forward. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Ashwani, for this detailed overview and for giving us some examples of engagement and entry points for our protection actors in the field on engagement with these mechanisms and also for mentioning indeed the pre-session of the African Commission and the CSOs and NGOs forum where our protection actor can also intervene. That's very useful. I would like now to pass to our second speaker, Honorable Commissioner Jeanette Ramatou Salanger, the special reporter on the rights of women in Africa. Welcome, Commissioner, I'm sorry for the delay in getting you in. Commissioner Ramatou, she's the special reporter on the rights of women in Africa and she's a commissioner at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights. She will explain how to work with a special mechanism and how it can enhance the protection of people affected by humanitarian crisis, especially women who, as you all know, they are the most affected by conflict and displacement. Commissioner Ramatou, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Maria. Thank you. Honorable panelist, distinguished guest participants, it is indeed my honor to take part in this very important panel and to share perspectives on the work of the special mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and how protection clusters can interact with the special mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights. A particular emphasis on my office as the special reporter on the rights of women in Africa. In terms of structure, in my presentation, I'll provide an overview of the structures of the African Commission's special mechanism. So you have an idea of the mechanism we have and how we work. Then I'll say a little thing about dynamics of gender in humanitarian crisis and internal displacement, just to put things in perspective and how the protection clusters can interact with the special mechanisms and provide a few recommendations for your consideration in carrying out your work. In terms of the overview of the structure of the African Commission's special mechanism, I'll start by saying that within the African human rights system, the Commission is the only EU organ that has a special mechanism to focus on different thematic areas that are of special concern to the work of the Commission so as to facilitate the implementation of its mandates. So the mechanisms actually help in the implementation of the mandate of the Commission and their different themes. This strategy has proved to be an excellent working tool which also enables the Commission to have a better understanding of the human rights situations in the continent. The mandate of each of the 13 special mechanisms, we have 13 in all, in tears into earlier, undertaking research, promotion missions to countries. We go in country in situations where we have mass violations, adopting resolutions in deserving cases, urgent appeals to state parties when we send letters of appeal where the situations have deteriorated on respect to thematic areas. The special repertoire on the rights of women is only one of the 13 mandates that operate within the African Commission. In addition to special repertoire, these mandates or special mechanisms take the form of working groups and committees. And these working groups sometimes actually invite experts to take part in the work of the working groups. So we have expert members and members from the Commission. And that's another avenue of taking part in the work of the Commission because the experts are outside the Commission and they're invited. So occasionally we have a call for experts. They have a time limit and when their time expires, we can order a call for experts to participate. While the specific activities may vary, the mechanisms are structured in more or less the same way as the one on women. And their mandates are specific to a variety of thematic human rights issues. The special mechanisms also collaborate with different stakeholders in the continent and international development partners. And this is very relevant to partners in the UN system in order to carry out the specific projects on the different areas of specialization. There's also a lot of collaboration across the mandates of the mechanism on cross-cutting issues. For example, women in distress due to internal displacement would be of concern to the special repertoire on the rise of women, as well as the special repertoire on refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants in Africa. So there is a special mechanism at the Commission that is squarely responsible for refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons and migrants. So this is very important. But I'll just now focus on the mandate of the special repertoire on the rise of women in Africa. The mandate is to assist African governments in developing and implementing national policies to promote and protect women's rights in Africa in accordance with the domestication of the Mapoto Protocol and general harmonization of domestic laws with the rights enshrined in the protocol. So we help and assist member states in developing and implementing national policies in the implementation of the instruments. We also undertake, as highlighted earlier in the overview of the system, to undertake promotion and finding missions to African countries which are A member states with a view to popularizing A human rights instruments and investigations the situation of women's rights in the countries visited. We also monitor the implementation by state parties of the African Charter on Human and People's Rise and its protocols on the rise of women in Africa, in particular by preparing reports on the situation of women's rights in Africa and propose a recommendation to be adopted by the commission. Where necessary, we also drag resolutions on the situation of women in African countries and propose them to the members of the commission for adoption. We conduct comparative study on the situation of women's rights in African countries. We also do established guidelines, soft laws, as highlighted earlier, guidelines in order to enable member states to better address issues related to women's rights in their periodic report and initial reports submitted to the commission. Since its establishment, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur has made significant strides in advancing the rise of many Africa and will deal with specific ways in which protection clusters can interact with the mandate in its responsibility and role. It is important to note, however, that women's rights cut across all the various special mechanisms of the commission and the mandates are all inextricably linked. They are all linked. You can separate them sometimes. This gives an integral dimension and outlook on the mandate and therefore mainstreaming those cross-cutting issues in order to advance the rise of women is imperative as it will address the economic, social, environmental, political and all the challenges by women in the continent. The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, however, remains at the forefront of the efforts to address and respond to new developments and concerns relating to women in Africa. Furthermore, the commissioners and trustable responses for special mechanisms are also country rapporteurs spread across the member states of the EU. So in addition to the mechanisms we have and the offices we hold, we actually designated country rapporteurs for each of the countries. This is in the relevant for protection clusters who may want to engage on issues directly affecting a specific country. So when an issue arises that direct up a specific country, you can interact with the Contra Rapporteur. Details of the Contra Rapporteur you can find on the website of the commission so that you see which commissioner is allocated to which country. So it's another means of interaction with the special mechanism. I'll just focus a little bit on gender in humanitarian crisis and internal displacement. We're all aware that conflict is not a new phenomenon in Africa. However, the rise of terror groups like Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram has exacerbated conflict in a number of countries. And what is imagined in their taxes is a dual role for women where they are weaponized as suicide bombers as for example, and a specific targets and spoils of war. Thus women become both agents and victims in conflict situations. This particular terror group stand out in terms of their specialization of using women as instruments of terror. Research shows that in 2017 192 women and girls accounted for 92% of female suicide bombers globally were deployed by Boko Haram. In addition to being weaponized as terror activities escalate, so does the number of internet displaced persons of which women and children are disproportionately affected. While West and East Africa have been battling conflict as a major contribution to IDPs, Southern Africa has been afflicted by natural disasters which are also given back to IDPs. Most recently, the region has had to contend with cyclone idea in 2019 and the flooding in the KwaZulu natural province of South Africa. With regard to the situation of IDPs, you find that IDPs often lack basic infrastructure for survival with most African governments struggling to cater for their needs. Inadequate food and health services disproportionately affect women who are often primary caregivers to children, the sick and the elderly. Lack of access to reproductive health care also contributes to unplanned pregnancies that are often carried to term and deliver better access to health services in these situations. Sexual exploitation of women and girls is so common characters of IDPs comes often due to insecure origins and general deterioration of morals in a crisis. Violence against women is also increased in conflict prevails and in IDPs comes. Modern natural disasters like drought also create humanitarian crisis that affect women, often resulting in women dying due to structural gender inequalities. Women report that in drought, girls are more likely to miss school as they look for water and care for families. Child marriages often increase as well in order to alleviate economic vulnerability for girls and their families. While men are likely to easily migrate for better economic prospects when natural disasters occur, this often results in abandoned families because when they leave, they abandon their families. Women are usually not able to easily migrate because of their care responsibilities, result in crippling poverty and food insecurity. So these are some of the challenges. So where in mind the context in which women find themselves in humanitarian crisis and in displacement, how can protection clusters now interact with the special mechanisms of the African Commission to be able to carry out their work and to alleviate the suffering of women? I think one of the most important areas is data collection. Because data collection protection clusters can provide a wealth of information for the special report, what so-called efforts to make intervention. Data collection, for example, on the part of women can inform interventions like carrying out fact-finding mission if they are cross and systematic violation. A fact-finding mission will then include investigation into the situation, engaging with all relevant stakeholders and making recommendations for government to eliminate violation. The special report can also drive resolution for adoption by the Commission in such situations based on information provided by protection clusters. And in terms of fact-finding missions, I can just cite a few examples that have been embarked on by the Commission in the past. One of note is the one in Mali, the one that was launched to sorry, Arab Democratic Republic and the current ongoing Commission of Enquiry in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. In 2013, the mission was undertaken by delegation of the Commission comprised of the Special Report on Human Rights Defenders, Special Report on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internet Dispaced Persons and Migrants in Africa and the Chairperson of the HIV Committee. During the mission, the delegation visited the Accommodation Center for the Association of Progress and Defense on the Rise of Mali and Women, where it met with women's victims of conflict in Northern Mali. The delegation observed that rape and gender-based violence was a major issue in the main cities of Goa, Timbuktu and Kaidah. These are all feedback that we get when we engage on promotion and fact-finding missions. In September 2012, also at the request of the Executive Council of the AU and at the invitation of the government of the Saraiwe Arab Democratic Republic, the Commission also undertook a fact-finding mission to that country and the mission was taken within the framework of the Protective Mandate of the Commission to investigate humanized violence in the occupied territories and the liberated territories under the outcomes of the Saraiwe Arab Democratic Republic, especially as this pertained to the right to self-determination of the Saraiwe people. The Special Report on the Rise of Women was part of the mission to get a special mechanism of the Commission. Furthermore, with regard to the ongoing situation in Ethiopia, the Commission was seized by H.C. Musafaki-Mahamed, Chairperson of the African Commission, for a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council held on 9th May, 2021, in which the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. His Excellency Dr. Abdi Ahmad, expressed the will to engage the Commission in undertaking investigation on the ongoing crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The Commission welcomed this commendable initiative to investigate the ongoing crisis in Tigray region and in this regard, on 20th May, requested the government's authorization to undertake a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia. However, following extensive consultation, the Commission finally decided, during its 32nd Excellency session, to establish a commission of inquiry into the human rights situation in the Tigray, that is based on Resolution 482. In kind as in its mission, the Commission organized various meetings with different actors, including Ethiopian authorities, in addition, it held oral hearings to receive testimonies of witnesses and victims, and also received reports on the human rights situation in the Tigray region. This commission of inquiry is still ongoing, it's still pending and ongoing, and the final report of the Commission of Enquiry will be submitted to the AU policy organs for adoption, and will also be published in due course for the consumption of general public. With regard to other contributions of protection clusters, they can also contribute to the Dr. Nochado reports that are alluded to previously, and the situation of women and girls in their jurisdictions. These will assist the special mechanisms to constructively put questions to state parties in the construction of state reports on the Article 62 of the African Charter and Article 26 of the market protocol. This will help to inform recommendations on how best the state can protect the rights of women and girls, who are IDPs, or who are in an humanitarian crisis. I think the state reporting process as alluded to and dealing with the overview of the African system is a very important tool. And what is important is that, because it provides a very unique opportunity to state parties to report on legislative and other measures taken to implement rights, as well as successes registered, challenges encountered in the implementation and domestication of instruments. It also encourages constructive engagement with the Commission, thereby making it a useful tool in monitoring human rights situation in state parties. The Commission has also opened up the state reporting exercise to members of civil society, by receiving shadow reports, prepared by accredited NGOs and NHR, National Human Rights Institutions. And these shadow reports will normally be taken into consideration when considering the reports of states. And it will also give us the opportunity to ask questions, and also in the recommendations and concrete observations will be taken into consideration. So any feedback we get regarding shadow reports or information we receive will take it into consideration when we're considering state reports. So it might be useful to look at the agenda of the Commission and to find out which particular country will be submitting its report or delivering on its report and to provide relevant information to guide the Commission in Karyana its rules and responsibility. It is also worth noting that the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, and the focal point of reprisers in Africa and the Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, internal displaced persons and migrants in Africa, in collaboration with our long-standing partner at the Center for Human Rights, the University of Pretoria, we are currently developing shadow reporting guidelines to facilitate the drafting of such reports by stakeholders. So these guidelines should be of interest at least to assist in following the procedure and the format for shadow reports. So this is something that we're working on and hopefully should meet available very soon. Also, the Office of the Special Rapporteur is also available to engage the protection clusters and other relevant stakeholders in establishing human rights protection obligation by state parties in the African human rights system. The mandate may be invited to popularize provisions of the Maputo Protocol that are relevant to women in crisis and assist governments on the devising strategies to implement them. For example, Article 11 of the Maputo Protocol is dedicated to men in armed conflict with the perpetration of violence, rape or any sexual exploitation against IDP women being considered war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. So we can partner with agencies and protection clusters to popularize and to raise awareness as a preventive measure as opposed to reacting when situations arise. Also, where protection clusters require systematic or gross violations of women's rights in humanitarian crisis, they can also explore filing communications that is complains with the commission, which will be considered by the commission sitting as a whole. This will be very important then the commission will review the complaints and then make recommendations for affected populations. The special mechanism is also prepare audio letters of appeal in deserving cases when you have gross violations. So if it is brought to our attention and Agile Greta will be prepared, press statements are also part of the working modalities of the special mechanisms, including that of the Special Rapporteur and the rights of women. So therefore it's important for protection clusters to report violations to the mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur. We can be addressed to audio letters of appeal followed by state press statements for public consumptions. So these are various ways of interacting with the various mechanism of the African commission. I'll just offer a few specific recommendations, which we should take into consideration. And these are one protection clusters are encouraged to look beyond humanitarian needs of their beneficiaries. You have to go beyond the needs of the beneficiary, but to use instruments like the Makoto Protocol to identify violations of women's human rights. So whilst you're meeting the immediate needs, we should actually adopt a human rights approach and make sure that you identify violations of women's human rights. After identifying violations, incorporate human rights standards in order to assist in eliminating discrimination, for example, in the supply of aid. Protection clusters are also encouraged to form collaborations, alliances with human rights organizations, in order to offer holistic assistance to IDPs on women's humanitarian crisis. On between the Venezia and the United States and the representative from... Of the Special Rapporteur to brainstorm on ways to increase the protection of human rights of women in crisis in accordance with the Makoto Protocol and other instruments. And finally, the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women is always open to everyone, individually or collectively in pursuing the improvement of the Rights of Women in Africa. So whenever you want to collaborate, if you need to bring anything to our attention, we're always open and we're happy to receive and then to facilitate. Thank you very much for your kind attention. Thank you. Thank you so much, Commissioner Ramatuli, for this very inspiring presentation and for the recommendations. First of all, to mentioning how women's rights is a cross-cutting issue now, several mechanisms, not just yours, actually can deal with the situation of women in conflict situations. And also for mentioning concrete examples of cooperation and support that the Protection Cluster can provide. This is very important because as you know, Protection Cluster members, they gather lots of information and they can inform your mechanism and they can guide intervention. Before moving to the next panel, I just want to drop two questions that perhaps you can answer before doing the question and answer. First of all, you mentioned the fact-finding missions and I was wondering for Protection Cluster to share information on a specific country situation, how do they get in touch with the Commissioner that are part of the fact-finding mission? Through the country reporter that you mentioned or if there is a more straightforward way, there is for instance a call for submission that is issued before the fact-finding missions and Protection Cluster can provide information through that call for submission. If you can, in the question and answer section, if you can clarify that. And yeah, that's actually for the moment the only question I have just to say more practically how what we can suggest to Protection Cluster and ways they can interact with you more concretely. Thank you so much again, Commissioner Ramatulli for this very interesting presentation. And now I would like to pass to Mr. Clemone Del Osivule, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Freedom of Association. Special Rapporteur, you will speak about good practices and lesson learned. You have a long-standing experience working with the African mechanics. I'm sure you can share some good examples of cooperation that can inspire our operations and actors in the field. The floor is yours. Thank you very much, Maria. Honorable Commissioner Janets, dear colleagues. Let me first thank UN is a Global Protection Cluster and my dear friend, Patrick Eba and his team for organizing these events and inviting me to speak. I commend UN is a tireless effort to connect closer the international and regional human rights mechanism with the loud double work of its staff on the ground in the humanitarian field. Having listened to how the African human rights mechanism work and mindful that many of you are familiar with how the international human rights mechanism work, I would like to start my intervention by reminding you that you should also consider engaging with both sets of mechanism, international and regional, and also encourage them to work together in support of your work. And I will provide you a very practical example here. The system of UN-special procedure has a long history of connecting and cooperating with the regional human rights system. Initially, this cooperation used to be rather ad hoc at the initiative of individual mandate holders. However, over the years, this cooperation has become more internalized. The first example of this is what we call the Addis Ababa Roadmap, which is the framework guiding the cooperation between the UN-special procedure and the special mechanism at the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights. This roadmap was agreed by the two system in 2012. And exactly this year, we have started celebrating its 10th anniversary. So I'm doubly honored to be at these events as a way to commemorate once more this important anniversary. The roadmap or the Addis Ababa Roadmap has often been quoted in many different fora as one of the success stories, a blueprint of cooperation between the international and regional human rights system. Over these 10 years, this framework has provided the stimulus for a number of joint action and collaborative work ranging from a big number of joint statements and press releases for the most part on thematic issue, but some also on specific situation and countries of concern, example of the abduction of the Chibok girls. Collaborative thematic work has also been very successful in the framework of the Addis Ababa Roadmap. Here, the most illustrative example is what's the later Christoph Haines as a former UN-special Rapporteur and Extra Judicial Summary or Arbitra Execution and African Commission Working Group on the Deaf Penalty and Extra Judicial Summary or Arbitra Killian Achieve. First, they allow the amended to work in partnership to improve human rights protection on the right to life in Africa. And ultimately at the international level, this alignment give more scope for joint projects and an opportunity for collaboration in various fora at the technical level. Secondly, following the working group initial proposal for a draft protocol to abolish the deaf penance in Africa, the UN-special Rapporteur and the working group prepare a draft text which was subsequently submitted to the political organ in Addis Ababa. At the same time, the working group and the UN-special Rapporteur work together on the general comments to the African Charter on the right to life, which was eventually adopted by the African Commission during its 57th session. This general comment was the Piona as the UN Human Rights Committee follow suit with a general comment on the right to life which draw heavily on the regional one. This shows that there is value in the two system joining hand for advancing the interpretation of the international and regional human rights norms and standards. Another example of the form that cooperation between the two system may take is that of joint visits conducted in Tunisia and September, 2003 by UN-special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Magritte Segargia and then-special Rapporteur on human rights defenders of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, Reina Lapini-Gonsu. It was the first visit to North Africa by human rights experts since the Arab Spring. The joint visit was an opportunity to speak with one voice on issue of freedom of expression association and human rights defenders. And the final very concrete example of cooperation I would like to bring to your attention is on the joint work around law reform and more specifically the collective advocacy efforts of the then-special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Michel Faust, together with the then-special Rapporteur on human rights defenders of the African Commission, Reina Lapini-Gonsu, for the enactment of a national law on the promotion and protection of human rights defenders in Kodiwa, which was eventually adopted in 2014, making Kodiwa the first African state with such law and one of few in the world. The law has since inspired other governments and civil society coalition and two countries, Bukina Faso and Mali, have passed their own law on the rights to human rights defenders and there are still many other countries like Niger and Togo who are in the same process. This is a just few example, but there are other which in the interest of time I would not develop, including the advocacy were conducted by the UN-special Rapporteur and IDP in conjunction with the African Commission Special Rapporteur on refugee background and IDPs regarding the Kampala Convention and the collaboration of the two system initiated around discrimination and violence against LGBTI. Let me also mention that although this important work done within the Addis Ababa framework, one important area identified by the roadmap is still not properly addressed by the tools mechanism. In fact, the roadmap envisages the possibility for both mechanism to contribute to early warning by providing input to the UN and the AUPs and security machinery. This is an area where UN-SR can bring his expertise to the tool system at the time when we are seeing the increase of refugee crisis around the world due to the human rights crisis. I hope these example have illustrated beyond doubt the value of cooperation, especially across mechanism, geography and culture and how the roadmap has helped to reveal the reality of the universality and interdependence of human rights. And I hope that you will be even more motivated after today events to engage vigorously with both system as we embark on the next decades of the Addis Ababa roadmap implementation. I would like to stop there and really all to answer any question you may have. Thank you very much for your attention and thanks for the invitation. Thank you so much, Mr. Roulet. This is the perfect conclusion of this presentation, stressing how the two system international human rights system and the regional human rights system can complement and reinforce each other. I think this is a very powerful message that you gave. And also, thank you for bringing more examples of a successful cooperation with the mechanism. This is also very important. So now I would like to open the question and answer section. I see that there are two questions already for Commissioner Ramatuli, which will add to the question I had asked previously. And I also encourage all the other participants to ask questions, really, to use this crucial opportunity to ask questions regarding the functioning of the mechanism is better way to interact with them because it doesn't happen very often that we can have these experts with us together. So I would really stress the importance of engaging with them. So let's start the question and answer. Commissioner Ramatuli, if you want to reply already to the questions that were asked. And then we will wait to receive other questions. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Maria. I think we got to the question that you asked regarding the practicality of how to approach the mechanism, whether to go to the mechanisms or to go to the country repertoire. I think what is important is that, I mean, once the information is available, any interested party or protection cluster can approach the Secretariat of the African Commission to request for a dialogue with either the country repertoire or the chair of the mechanism. You either have a special repertoire or you're at the top of the list or you're at the chair of a particular mechanism. So once that request is made, there will be contacted directly either to the mechanism itself that is the chair of the mechanism or if you have a special repertoire to the office of special repertoire to ensure that there will be dialogue. So through that dialogue, because schedule a meeting, information can be shared and that actually can actually, in deserving cases, to affect the mission being filled because it depends on the veracity of the information that is received because sometimes we need to actually make sure that we have credible information. We cannot rely on rumors or just publications under press. So once the information is available, that can actually trigger that. But what is important is that whether you come to a mechanism or you come to the special repertoire, if an information is sent to a country repertoire and that particular information is relevant to a thematic area, the mechanism will be involved. Also, if an information is channeled to the mechanism, for example, a working group, invariably if it affects a particular country, the working group will involve the country repertoire. So it's text and balance, we make sure that we all work together and we coordinate. So the mechanism will not work on something that we regard to a particular country that the country repertoire will not be aware of. In the same vein also, if the country repertoire is approached and the information is relevant to a particular thematic area, it will prove them for the country repertoire to reach out to the working group responsible for that. So that there is coordination and we don't work in silos. So we have an integrated approach. So I think I hope that answers your question, Maria. Maria, is that okay? Thank you. Yes, sorry. I see a question on the dial. Thank you, Commissioner Ramatulli. Yes, it just takes a bit to unmute myself. There are also two other questions that we're asking in the chat that I'm going to read them out loud for you, Commissioner Ramatulli. The first is could you comment on the knowledge gaps on human rights being the general population and potential actors in promotion and protection? So this question is about the knowledge gaps on human rights in promotion and protection. And what is the role of property and lack of education in vulnerability to human rights abuses? What are the measures in place to address these factors? Okay, I think during my presentation I did make reference to the state reporting obligation because through the state reporting process member states can be held accountable to the legislative policy and institutional framework within the context of their context in terms of implementation of the specific obligations enshrined in the charter and the various protocols within the African human rights mechanisms. So I think what is important is when the information is brought out, we're able to dialogue with the state. We actually interrogate the state with regard to in fact what is related to civil society engagement knowledge awareness and all the gaps that are relevant. And the state, specific recommendations will be made to the state because we have to be mindful of the fact that the commission as highlighted earlier when we're talking about the OBOV of the human rights system can only make recommendations to the state. It cannot descend into arena and pick the responsibility of the state or the role of the state. So the state has a responsibility to raise awareness of the citizenry. Second, we are in a position to make recommendations to the state to fill the gap. Another mechanism we have in place is sometimes we embark on national dialogue on specific issues. The essence of the national dialogue really is to raise awareness so that when we have studies and reports by the commission, we embark on a national dialogue to raise awareness within population and actors on the contents of the documents, if they are guidelines, if they are reports, if they are studies, we have embark on national dialogue to raise awareness within the population and in those instances we actually have a cross-section of society including the media and the whole idea of having the media is for it to be replicated. If you raise the awareness of the media, the expectation is that the media will pass the war ground and all stakeholders within the country. We also embark on training seminars continental conferences just to make sure that we have a critical mass of people. But what we can do is we cannot get everybody we cannot get the entire population. So what we do is we raise a critical mass and we're hoping that the information will be disseminated by people who have some of these functions that we embark on. So this is how we go about it as a commission. But I want to reinforce the fact that the responsibility of the commission is not to descend into the arena and take the role of the state. Information is brought to the action of the commission and we're able to make a recommendation to the state to take action to regard to the gaps and the requirements. Thank you so much Commissioner Ramatouli. I don't know if there is anyone among our participants that want to take the floor or wants to ask another question otherwise I have a question for Mr. Boulay. Perhaps I will just go ahead. Mr. Boulay you stress the important work I mean what is already stated in the roadmap on the importance to work on early warning and you stress the importance of UNHCR, the support that UNHCR can provide in early warning. Can you elaborate a bit more on what UNHCR and the UNHCR led protection cluster can do to support the work of early warning and therefore the prevention of human rights violations if you can work more on that of course it will be much more useful instead of intervening always after always once the violations have occurred so I think at the system level we always try to work more on early warning but I wonder if you have more concrete examples on how UNHCR and the protection cluster can support that work. Thank you. Thank you very much Maria and as I mentioned this is an area where the ADESAD Bay Road map clearly points as possibility for the both system to cooperate why because the two system are composed by the rapporteur by an independent expert that are tasked to really bring to their mechanism information that the trends and information that are needed to evaluate the situation or the possibility of situation of human rights in one particular country and as we we I'm sure we agree that today if we look at many crisis refugees crisis around the world all of those crisis are due to the lack of protection of human rights on the ground the emergence of authoritarian regime and we and those mechanism are also mechanism that work closely with this country and I think one of the area where we haven't been able to really work jointly is in particular this area in raising or being able to kind of raise this early warning sign in terms of violation. Yes things at this ADESAD Bay Road map we saw that the African Commission rapporteur and experts are becoming more involved in the Commission of Inquiry and the UN to the case of Burundi but then it's important for us in the system level how we jointly within this ADESAD Bay Road map we can share information that are critical information to warn the international system to warn African EU peace and security about the possible deterioration of human rights in one country that will lead to the cross human rights violation as we have seen across the continent and one thing that is impossible and I think UN can do because you have also very powerful communication tools you have also in transit to the states you can also be able also to help us whenever we raise those issue through your evaluation through your office on the ground that can provide us with concrete evidence that we can also use like during the review of the African Commission African Commission can use it and alert the international community that this is going to happen and we don't take any step concrete step also we can also use it during our presentation of the report at the Human Rights Council also to but we need those concrete side those concrete evidence coming from the ground in order to convince states and to convince other states that will take the decision or will adopt the resolution and I think by doing that it will also help both system to set up an effective warning system that can also that will help both system to support the peace and security issue around the world. Thank you Mr. Woulet for specifying how we can support in this endeavor. I see that there is a benedict to raise their hand I know that there has been an rectification in the chat because I didn't quite understand the question the role of property but I didn't even ever recognize the role of property and the lack of education and yes I think I would like to speak to that a little bit because you find that with the mechanisms we have at the level of the commission sometimes you need the necessary resources to be able to approach the commission and if you don't have the necessary resources it will be difficult and sometimes even to know how to know that there has been violations so in the situation of that nature at the national level this is where the NGOs and the national human rights institutions come in because it is the role of national human rights at the national level to raise awareness of the population and where there are mass violations of human rights to bring it up and to to address and make recommendations to the states. NGOs also you find that in most of the communications and complaints that come to the commission are presented by NGOs on behalf of communities people who cannot afford to approach the commission and people who may not even be aware that there has been violations so this is where the NGOs and commissions can play a very pivotal role in bringing to the attention of the commission dehumanize situations in their countries with respect to whether people are aware of the poverty at the level of the commission I think that's a very good question and I should respond to that. Thank you Thank you so much Commissioner I think there is Benedict who would like to take the floor perhaps and then there is another question in the chat Benedict you can the floor is yours Thank you I have a questions I don't know perhaps from the commissioner in Special Rapporteur or one of those it's a questions regarding decision taken by the Banjul commission but it could also apply for decision taking by the African committee or expert on the right and welfare of the child it has been emphasized to us that it's those decisions following the lodging of an individual complaint or communication whether by an individual or an NGO or potentially another institution I know they are not legally binding the decision released by the treaty body but we have seen in practice that there has been some time especially decision for instance from the African committee of expert on the right and welfare of the child there has been some mechanisms to follow up the implementation of the recommendation of those decision so I wanted to ask that questions because there was also in the first presentation there was also a statement saying that even if ruling from the African court of human peoples are legally binding in practice the level of implementation by states is extremely limited so I mean my questions in summary is in terms of of strategy when there is a human right violation isn't it better for kind of advocacy purposes and trying also to have to keep on a sort of not too strong mechanism to use the possibility for complaint or communication to be trigger and my other sub question was also related to the fact that the banjul commission has also the possibility to petition the African court in case of human rights I'm not very sure to know I don't know actually if it has happened in the past but I mean those are the two questions I wanted to ask so I don't know who wants to take the floor to respond that maybe maybe if I can start with the last part the first question that you had when you summarized it about whether advocacy might not be the better way than using the forceful way I would say definitely because you need a bottom up approach to human rights issues of course we've had implementation hearings by the African court by the African children's committee to try and see what is happening with different decisions but if a state does not have the political will to have it implemented it will be very difficult so at the same time for instance let's say there's a court case or even if there's no case before the African human rights bodies it might be good to start educating to start having sensitization campaigns and to start having dialogues with state but sometimes if you bring a case against the state it shakes them up and makes them realize oh that's a problem I worked on the tally big case at the African Children's Committee level and the first hearing that we had was actually so nice and fruitful because we had government representatives then wanting to have dialogue to try and understand how they can make the problem go away so it was more of a it was not a punitive sort of hearing but it was a more constructive dialogue I was there I tried to understand how it was working they were actually trying to understand how they can make it better for the children so I think if the state has a good will it will definitely work out but you cannot force states to do things like we can see with the Sarah case which has not been implemented till now and that was decided so long ago but I will leave it to the experts yeah I think you've raised a very pertinent issue in terms of political will I think that's the as they said Americans are the bottom line I think without the political will whether you have a binding judgment as we know in international law even you have a judgment of an international court we don't have policemen going underground just like you have in national context where you have the sheriff coming in to execute the judgment it relies really on the political will of the state to where is the recommendation or binding judgment to comply and implement the judgment I think at the level of the African commission when we have a recommendation to the state what we actually do is we give them a timeline to report back to the commission with regard to implementation so in some instances they do report back and in some instances depending on the political will they would not report back another mechanism we use if you don't have from the state is when they through the state reporting mechanism we always refer back to unimplemented decisions of the commission and we question the state on why that has not been done but ultimately as you rightly observed as the political will that is important and also to reinforce the fact that yes I do agree that raising awareness is very important because that is more of preventive so at least before you even get to come into the commission or the court or the commission the awareness of the state because most of the cases that come to the court the commission or the committee they relate to lack of implementation because if the state is implemented it is obligations under this instrument then there won't be a need to come to court but coming to the court or coming to the commission you find it's always the last resort because at the level of the commission we have the requirement for exhaustion of local residents to do all you can in the national context and it doesn't work that's when you approach the commission which of course with the rules and guidelines they regulate that in terms of when it's on the problem very in mind that yes it's important awareness raises diplomacy but in this case by the time it gets to the court or commission it's gone to the stage where diplomacy and negotiation may have failed but another thing that mechanisms actually approach and adopt this is the possibility of engaging the state and the victims to the possibility it's not always taken but it's also a mechanism to find the possibility of engaging both parties of course so subject to consensus and agreement of the complainant or the auto communication so these are some of the mechanism that can be adopted to address situations but I do agree with you that implementation is always a problem I don't know if Mr. Goulet he wants to complete please go ahead my two predecessors already found out some of the things that I am planning to say I think we need to combine all of these strategies and I will say that the advocacy will not only be based on the cases or the violations but it has to be based on the decision and how do you prove that state violence is his obligation that civil society will be the advocacy and I don't think you know we have this kind of repetition of task the experts are there really to really analyze state's obligation in light of violation and issue decision and we know that civil society is in power to do the advocacy work it's true the experts can have what we call strategy of cooperating with the state and try also to increase state to move forward in implementation but I think it's not the primary work of the system will be really to ensure that whenever violation is reported we take decision in light of the obligation of the state but also states have the obligation even if those are recommendations it's clear and all the state have obligation to implement or to fulfill his commitment at the international norm today I think the main talent we are facing as you mentioned as you mentioned is the state will to implement some of these recommendations and we have to continue to work towards really making sure that civil society on the ground citizen on the ground are aware one of the things I remember when the African commission celebrated his 20th anniversary was how many African know about the existence of charter and their rights that's the point you know if you don't know that then it's quite difficult even to know about decision that are taking so how do we make sure decision reach at the national level including journalists political leaders so everybody is aware about what those experts are recommending to state to take as measure and I think this is also an important element just in summary even in the in this roadmap we also identify this area as an important area for collaboration because what we realize also is that many states play between the regional system their review at the regional system and their review at the international system and looking at this as two separate things but we expect we are saying that human revolution is human revolution we need to cooperate we need to we need to have one voice to have one way to analyze the situation to ensure that whatever commission is saying to the Africa to the states under review we are also saying the same thing in light of the coalition that we receive you know so then the states do not have any kind of maneuver to really manipulate between the two system but they will know that our regional system say the same international system they say the thing we are obliged to implement these recommendations thank you very much thank you so much Mr. There is a last question and perhaps I can ask Ashwani to share where a practitioner can find the jurisprudence and general comments because Anne she is asking whether there is a developed jurisprudence and general comment touching upon alternatives to detention for migrants perhaps you could share the link of the website where we can find general comments and jurisprudence and of course if you know about the existence of these these guide alternatives to detention for migrants of course feel free to share it already with us I don't know if you can hear me well can you hear me ok perfect so as soon as I saw the question I actually went on the website to see if there is any soft law on the issue but the only thing that I saw was that at the moment there is a draft protocol to the African Charter on the specific aspects of right to nationality and eradication of statelessness but I haven't seen any general comment there must be resolutions but I think there is a need for further digging in so I just copy paste the link here unfortunately I am not aware if there is any yeah yeah I was just saying there is no jurisprudence to develop on that well so if there are no further question perhaps we can wrap up colleagues as Patrick I was saying at the beginning one of the barriers of engagement with the African human rights mechanism is the lack of knowledge sometimes we don't know that they are there we don't know what they do exactly so we hope that through this webinar we have all learned a bit more about the African human rights mechanism and ways to engage with them and also just to mention the human rights engagement task team has just developed an overview, a very brief overview on the African human rights mechanism both in English and French and I will be happy to share it with you all if you are interested to increase the knowledge and awareness on what these mechanisms can do and the additional channels they can provide to strengthen the protection of people in need which is the focus of all our work in the field and then some key messages that I think are very important use a more human rights based approach, this is something that we have been advocating for a long time, this is what the call to action for human rights the United Nations Secretary General call to action for human rights is asking all UN agencies we should all use a more human rights based approach in our analysis especially to prevent those violations from occurring, create partnerships I think this is also key and this is something that the protection cluster our colleagues in the field can definitely do create partnership with human rights actors conduct joint analysis with human rights actors and using these mechanisms really not just to have an additional work but actually to simplify the work colleagues in the field and then the various opportunities of engagement it was mentioned support doing the fact finding missions the support providing information for shadow reports submitting information through the individual complaint procedure and also I would stress advocating for the implementation of the recommendation of these mechanisms because this is also something that our actors in the field can do and this is a very easy way to work more human rights issues to remind governments of their obligations and their recommendation that are stemming from these mechanisms and so I think we gather some very important key messages we have all learned a lot we have all learned something new so I would like to thank you all for your active participation and engagement and especially our distinguished panelists it was really a pleasure to have you here with us today to hear from you to learn from you so I would like now to close the meeting thank you so much for participating and have a good afternoon thank you thank you everybody thank you