Ensuring Civil Society Participation at the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights: Joint NGO Call to Reinstate Cancelled Human Rights Side Event

The undersigned organisations express concern over the censorship of civil society through the cancellation of the side event co-sponsored by ISHR, Front Line Defenders, Hegoa and the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara, titled “Ending the Silence on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara”.

Schedule to be held on 12 May 2026, 13:30 at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Kairaba Conference Centre (SDKJ-ICC), the side event was organised as part of civil society’s advocacy around the periodic report review scheduled for the 87th session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)—a member state of the African Union and party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

In fact, the organisers were informed by the Conference Center late on 11 May 2026 that they will not be able to host the side event despite the prior booking, transfer of deposit and confirmation of the event room.

This was an unilateral cancellation of this specific side event during the 87th ordinary session of the African Commission by the  SDKJ-ICC with a non-notification of the justification of the cancellation to the African Commission.  Although the ACHPR Secretariat announced the event in the plenary, it did not take place because the SDKJ-ICC abruptly cancelled the room booking, while other events in the same room had not been cancelled, and no alternative room was offered. This appears to be a targeted silencing of Sahrawi human rights defenders.

This cancellation risks undermining the Commission’s commitment to openness, participation, and civic space protection, and compromises the civic space that the ACHPR is committed to uphold as part of its mandate. Any attempts to exert external pressure to undermine the Commission’s independence and silence civil society are unacceptable and must be rejected.

We therefore respectfully request that the Commission take urgent steps to ensure the meaningful participation and safety of Sahrawi human rights defenders during the current session and support the reinstatement of the room booking so that the side event may take place on 14 May 2026 in the Conference Centre.

Signatories (updated on a rolling basis):

1. AAPSS
2. ACAAPS Catalunya
3. AREN
4. Asociación de Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de Segovia
5. Asociación de Amistad Venezuela – Argelia
6. Associação de Amizade Portugal-Sahara Ocidental (AAPSO)
7. Association des Familles des Prisonniers et Disparus Sahraouis (AFAPREDESA)
8. Associazione Jaima Sahrawi ODV
9. Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
10. Città Visibili APS
11. Front Line Defenders
12. HEGOA
13. Humanists International
14. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
15. IBTYKAR
16. Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa
17. Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa
18. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
19. Isacom
20. La ligue pour la protection des prisonniers sahraouis dans les prisons marocaines (LPPS)
21. Martin Etxea Elkartea
22. Movaps (Movimientos Valenciano de Ayuda al Pueblo Saharaui)
23. Movimiento por los presos políticos saharauis en cárceles marroquíes (MPPS))
24. Mundubat
25. Nidala orginzation of nonvilonce and peace in western sahara
26. NomadsHRC
27. NOVACT
28. Plataforma Internacional de Mujeres por el Sáhara Occidental (PIMSO)
29. REDHAC
30. Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights
31. Sahrawi observatory for natural resources and environmental protection
32. Solidarity Rising