Dear Excellencies,
Next week President Obama will host the U.S. – Africa
Leaders’ Summit (henceforth the Summit) in Washington, D.C. Although this
summit mainly focuses on trade and investment in Africa, the theme is
“Investing in the Next Generation” and a number of signature and side events
have been organized which appear to acknowledge the role of civil society,
women and youth in the development of Africa.
In the run-up to this Summit, we the undersigned civil society
organizations, call on you to ensure that serious consideration is given and
firm commitments are made to ensuring an enabling environment for the
participation of civil society, women and youth in Africa’s development.
Opening up of space for civil society
 |
| PRESIDENT OBAMA |
Given the stated importance of safeguarding civic space in
order to spur social entrepreneurship, civic innovation, and development, it is
regrettable that civil society is not formally participating in the Summit. At
a minimum the U.S. and African leaders should make firm commitments to the opening
up of civic space and publicly condemn all forms of suppression of civil
society voices in Africa.
Space for civil society in many countries is shrinking. Many
governments are using a combination of direct threats, oppressive laws and
state policies to undermine the work of independent media, human rights
defenders, and others seeking to peacefully express their views.
In countries such as Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique,
Sudan, Swaziland, and Uganda the response to peaceful demonstrations has often
been excessive use of force by state security forces against demonstrators and
their arrest in a manner which violates their right to freedom of expression,
to peacefully demonstrate and to participate in public affairs. In other
countries, such as Burundi, the government has repeatedly prevented civil
society organizations from holding peaceful marches and demonstrations.
Harassment, threats, unlawful arrests, and politically
motivated prosecutions of human rights defenders, as well as journalists,
anti-corruption campaigners, and others have become an alarming, regular
feature of too many countries in Africa. Restrictions have been imposed on
human rights groups in countries such as Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan.
The shrinking of civic space has included the use of
criminal laws - especially criminal defamation, insult and publication of false
news laws retained by most African countries - to suppress freedom of
expression. In many African countries individuals and journalists are unable to
freely express themselves within the limits of the law without facing the
possibility of criminal sanction. A case in point is the recent conviction and
two-year prison sentence in Swaziland of a lawyer, Thulani Maseko and magazine
editor, Bheki Makhubu, on charges of contempt of court for writing and
publishing articles that were critical of the Chief Justice. In Angola, Manuel
Nito Alves, who was 17 years old at the time of his arrest, is facing criminal
defamation charges for commissioning the printing of T-shirts with words deemed
to be offensive to the President, while Angola’s most prominent anti-corruption
activist, Rafael Marques de Morais, is currently facing nine defamation
lawsuits brought by prominent government or military officials. In Mozambique,
academic economist, Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco, is facing criminal charges for
having made a post on facebook criticizing the governance of the current
President of the Republic of Mozambique, Armando Emilio Guebuza. In Egypt two Al Jazeera journalists were
sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and another to ten years, after they were
found guilty of “reporting false news” following the coup that removed
President Mohamed Morsi in June 2013. In Burkina Faso, Lohé Issa Konate, an
editor, was convicted on charges of defamation, public insult and insulting a
magistrate for articles alleging corruption of the State Prosecutor. He was
sentenced to a year in prison, fined US$12,000 and his newspaper was shut down
for six months.
Such criminal sanctions for defamation restrict the space
for individuals to freely express criticism of government authorities, hold
them accountable and thus contribute to Africa’s development.
Restrictive media legislation, overbroad counterterrorism
laws, as well as vague charges of endangering public security, are also
increasingly used as tools to unduly limit freedom of expression, media freedom
and peaceful demonstrations. Ethiopia’s prosecution of dozens of individuals,
including at least 20 journalists and bloggers under its anti-terrorism law,
has been a particularly sinister misuse of domestic legislation. More often,
countries seeking to limit independent media introduce specific legislation on
the media, freedom of information, or public order that can have negative
impact on the media, as in Burundi, Zimbabwe, Uganda, the Gambia, and South
Africa. Sudan continues to restrict the media by imposing strict red lines, and
authorities routinely shut down newspapers and censor articles or confiscate
print runs. South Sudan, currently mired in renewed conflict, has permitted its
security organs to routinely harass and detain journalists who report
critically of the government.
These sanctions run counter to the undertakings of African
leaders in terms of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well
as the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa. As part of
their commitment to addressing security and development, participants at the
Summit must publicly condemn such actions and commit to upholding the right to
freedom of expression, association and peaceful demonstration. African leaders should commit to end
harassment of human rights defenders and journalists and repeal repressive
nongovernmental organization, media and other laws that restrict the rights to
freedom of expression, association, and peaceful demonstration.
Elimination of discriminatory laws and practices against
women
The U.S. and African leaders should also, in line with the
Summit’s position on investing in women and in the next generation, take this
opportunity to develop concrete steps for the elimination of customary,
religious and other laws and practices which inhibit the ability of women and
girls to fully participate in public life resulting in their exclusion from
economic development opportunities.
African leaders under the auspices of the African Commission
on Human and Peoples’ Rights have taken steps towards improving the access of
women and girls to development opportunities in the form of the Protocol to the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa;
as well as the Resolution on Women’s Right to Land and Productive Resources.
However, throughout Africa women and girls continue to face discrimination and
other human rights violations in both law and practice.
Women and girls are disproportionately and differently
affected by armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan
and the Central African Republic. They continue to experience conflict-related
sexual violence and do not have access to justice and appropriate health
services. At the Global Summit to End
Sexual Violence in Conflict African governments made commitments to end impunity
for gender-based crimes and to ensure that survivors received services. It is critical that they implement those
commitments.
Women continue to be excluded from equal participation in
decision making, including in peace negotiations and processes. Women are poorly represented in peace
negotiations and processes in South Sudan and the Central African
Republic. The failure to ensure women’s
meaningful and equal participation in negotiations to formulate and implement
peace agreements violates their rights to equality and full participation in
public life.
The signature event on, “Investing in Women, Peace and
Prosperity” promises to underscore the importance of African women’s role in
economic development and their participation across all sectors of society. As
long as discriminatory laws and practices continue in the continent women and
girls will not be able to fully carry out this role. African leaders must
undertake to set aside all such laws and do away with such practices, as well
as outline the concrete steps they are going to take to unlock the potential of
women and girls on the continent.
The signature and side events at the summit should not be
token attempts to silence groups that are often caricatured as malcontents out
to tarnish the image of African leaders. The Summit provides an opportunity for
real commitments to be made for all-inclusive, sustainable development in
Africa. We urge you to recognize the essential place of human rights in this
development program.
We thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA)
ARTICLE 19
Human Rights Watch
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Africa Regional
Program
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Lawyers for Human Rights, Regional office
Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos (LDH), Mozambique
Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos (LGDH), Guinea-Bissau
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), South Africa
Swaziland Coalition for Concerned Civic Organizations,
Swaziland
Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), Malawi
Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), Mozambique
Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), Regional office
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Zimbabwe
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