In April 2018, the IDC’s Africa team attended the 62nd Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The Commission is a quasi-judicial body, tasked with promoting and protecting the rights guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights across the continent.
The IDC has observer status at the ACHPR and has previously attended sessions to find avenues for collaboration with NGOs and States on the implementation of alternatives to immigration detention, as well as to highlight issues for IDC’s member NGOs across the region who cannot make it themselves.
The IDC attended the ACHPR with member and East Africa Regional Advisor, Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK). RCK presented their statement to the floor during the session, urging the Government of Kenya to explore alternatives to detention and cease the immigration detention of children. Read the statement here.
Read the final communique from the 62ndSession here.
The Africa team also contributed to discussions at the NGO Forum that took place during the preceding week. The Forum is a platform for African and International NGOs to prepare for the ACHPR session, share information and adopt resolutions on questions that will be examined by the ACHPR. The IDC inputted to the statement crafted by the special interest group “Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons”, to ensure states refrain from using detention in migration governance and pursue rights-based alternatives instead.
