The next session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights will take place in Banjul from 24^th October to 7^th November 2011.

Please note that the NGO Forum will take place on 19-21 October and a 2-day colloquium for the 30^th Anniversary of the African Charter will be organized by the African Commission on 22-23 October.

WaterLex is proposing to coordinate the NGOs supporting the ACHPR Working Group on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR). The Reporting guidelines on the ESCR were adopted by the African Commission last February (enclosed). The Working Group is now working towards their dissemination. The NGO support group aims at gathering NGOs interested in fostering a comprehensive and intersectoral implementation of human rights through the work of the African Commission. WaterLex is an NGO based in Geneva coordinating research projects in Africa. The Organization has a specific interest in water and takes the interdependence of human rights as a reading grill for good governance.

Open Society Justice Initiative is coordinating the NGOs supporting the ACHPR Working Group on Extractive Industries. The Extractive Industries implicate a wide range of human rights and corruption issues that require the attention of broad thematic and geographic representation. While the ACHPR working group was created two years ago, it has not yet and it currently does not have a chair. We are hoping NGOs from across the African continent and beyond, focusing on the different areas of impact of these industries, will become involved in pushing this Working Group forward and setting a strong agenda. 

The Legal Resources Center (LRC), Open Society Justice Initiative and WaterLex are calling upon NGOs to mobilize and get heard on these interrelated issues at the next ACHPR session. The Legal Resources Centre is a public interest law firm based in South Africa who have represented many rural communities in South Africa against both the state and mining companies in asserting their rights to resources (including mining and fishing) and their right to be consulted when these resources are disposed of. One of the objectives proposed is to request the African Commission to take position on the impact of natural resources management on human rights. Next year, the Rio+20 Summit will celebrate the 20-year implementation of the Rio Declaration on Development and Environment. It is important that NGOs in Africa and focused on Africa to also mobilize to foster a human rights perspective of natural resources management.

Join us in the preparation of advocacy activities for the next ACHPR session!

1/ Join the 2 NGO Groups on extractive industries and economic, social and cultural rights!  

Follow the links below and join the groups:  

http://groups.google.com/group/ngosforextractiveindustrieswg?hl=en (Extractive industries) 

http://groups.google.com/group/ngosforescrwg?hl=en (Economic, social and cultural rights)

2/ Share with us your concerns and the recommendations you want to address to the African Commission regarding the management of natural resources and its impact on human rights, as well as other issues related to ESCR. You are invited to contribute to :

• the drafting of a resolution on natural resources management and human rights to be submitted to the NGO Forum for adoption and successive submission to the African Commission; and
•  the organization of  a side event with members of the ACHPR working group on extractive industries, the ACHPR working group on ESCR and the ACHPR group on indigenous people.

All suggestions are welcome! Feel free to circulate this email to your partner organizations!