Regional human rights context
Many of the most grave and complex human rights challenges facing the world today are found in Africa. Poverty, discrimination and exclusion are reinforced in many countries by poor governance, corruption and ethnic divisions. Impunity is pervasive, and violence and discrimination against women, especially in conflict and postconflict settings, persist. While violent conflict continued into late 2007 in several countries in Africa, notably Somalia, Sudan, and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, several African States continued to evolve from post-conflict status towards stability and development.
The extremely varied security and political environments across the continent were reflected in differing levels of national capacity and commitment to promote and protect human rights. Many of the regional and subregional human rights mechanisms and institutions, such as the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and others are in need of institutional support and technical assistance to increase their capacity to promote and protect human rights.
In addition to the large number of potential national and regional partners, rapidly changing political and security environments presented a further challenge to OHCHR in balancing the need to respond quickly to urgent human rights problems while not diverting resources from long-standing, but sometimes less visible, issues with equally or more dramatic impact on rights-holders.
During the 2008-2009 biennium, OHCHR will engage with national and regional actors to bolster efforts to build the peace in post-conflict States by promoting the rule of law and respect for human rights. Critical to establishing lasting peace will be helping countries to ensure accountability for past crimes, combating impunity, confronting discrimination and violence against women and vulnerable groups, and addressing poverty and social and economic rights by promoting a human rights-based approach in development and humanitarian programming. OHCHR’s overall programme in Africa will focus on assisting local, national and regional institutions to understand and respond to human rights concerns.
The programme seeks to increase the integration of human rights standards and principles into national legislation and policies, including through interaction with the treaty bodies, ensuring the implementation of voluntary pledges by new Human Rights Council members, and building on visits and recommendations from special procedures mandate-holders.
OHCHR’s programme in Africa includes helping to build the capacity of the African Union, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and other relevant subregional organizations to promote and protect human rights. At the national level, OHCHR will continue to strengthen relevant national institutions and to collaborate with UN Country Teams to promote a human rights-based approach to development in their programming. Regional Offices will continue to serve as the entry point in countries where OHCHR has no presence.
During the 2008-2009 biennium, OHCHR will support 22 field presences in sub-Saharan Africa. These include regional offices or centres in Addis Ababa (East Africa), Pretoria (Southern Africa), Yaoundé (Central Africa), and Dakar (West Africa); country offices in Angola, Togo and Uganda; human rights components in 12 UN Peace Missions in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia/Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan as well as the AU-UN hybrid mission in Darfur; and human rights advisers to the UN Country Teams in Rwanda, Niger, and Guinea. In addition, a regional human rights adviser for the Great Lakes Region, based in Bujumbura, will be deployed in 2008.
The Office will also continue to support the work of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Burundi, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in DRC, the Independent Expert on technical cooperation and advisory services in Liberia, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan.