Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) is pleased to introduce the second issue of the African Affairs Newsletter. This edition highlights a range of pressing human rights issues that have emerged across African countries since the previous edition, alongside GICJ’s ongoing advocacy efforts to address these violations.
The newsletter features GICJ’s active participation in the 59th session of the Human Rights Council where our interns and volunteers contributed by submitting written statements and delivering oral statements on different critical topics such as the ongoing genocidal acts in Sudan. The African Affairs newsletter offers summaries of key discussion reports and thematic reports covered by GICJ during the HRC59 including but not limited to the Angola UPR and the oral update by the special rapporteur on the human rights crisis in Burundi. As it pertains to the Angola Universal Periodic Review, our volunteer, delivered a compelling and thoughtful that highlighted the continued commitment to human rights in the country. In her, she urged the government to take concrete and effective.
On Burundi, the special rapporteur gave his oral update on the human rights crisis in Burundi in which he raised concern over the continued issue of extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances ahead of the 2025 elections. During this dialogue, our intern, delivered a joint statement strongly condemning the government's actions against its citizens, particularly the suppression of fundamental rights. She criticized the government's failure to uphold and guarantee freedom of speech for all individuals, emphasizing that such repression undermines democratic values and violates international human rights obligations. In this newsletter, , summarises his discussion report on the human rights crisis in Burundi.
In addition, our interns published a discussion report on the special rapporteur update on the human rights issue in Eritrea.The Special Rapporteur emphasized the government's continued use of national service as a tool of control. The Special Rapporteur also highlighted severe restrictions on freedom of religion, expression, and assembly. Religious minorities, journalists, and political dissidents face arbitrary arrests, harassment, and prolonged detention without due process.
Geneva International Centre for Justice also closely monitored the oral update delivered by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan (FFM Sudan) during the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in which one of our interns , also delivered a joint statement on the genocidal violence taking place. The update delivered by all three members of the Fact-Finding Mission, Mr. Mohamed Chande Othman (Chair), Ms. Mona Rishmwawi, and Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo noted that Sudan is currently facing a catastrophic situation that has reached unimaginable levels of suffering for the civilian population. The Mission's oral update revealed deeply disturbing findings. Investigators have documented a growing pattern of mass atrocities, which include extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate aerial bombardments, ethnically targeted attacks, and widespread incidents of conflict-related sexual violence.
Aside from the items of the Human rights council that are covered in this newsletter that were covered by GICJ, the newsletter also addresses the current human rights violations occurring under the government following the June 2024 Finance Bill protests. Following the proposal of the Finance Bill, Kenyans took to the streets to exercise their rights to protest in which their peaceful protest were met with brutal retaliation from the police. The Kenyan government continues to struggle with enforcement of human rights law and thus it is up to civil society to continue to advocate and amplify the voices of the people of Kenya.
The Africa group of Geneva International Centre for Justice is a coalition dedicated to advocating for human rights, justice, and peace across the African continent and for the people of African descent. Through research, advocacy and engagement with the United Nations Mechanisms, the African Group works to amplify African voices in global discussions on peace, security, and development through collaborative work from our volunteers across different African countries in collaboration with our members from the office in Geneva. The team actively engages in addressing ongoing issues of racism, racial discrimination, and slavery with a strong focus on supporting the full and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action. Through the teams’ rigorous efforts, this newsletter aims to provide information on the current and developing human rights issues in the continent in hopes to create awareness and further shed light on these issues but to also urge states and civil societies to act on these matters.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) urges the respective governments to address the human rights crises highlighted in the newsletter and effectively uphold human rights in their respective countries. Furthermore, we implore the different countries to continue to engage with the United Nations mechanisms to ensure the successful implementation of international law including human rights and humanitarian law.
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