Members of the African Human Rights Protection System said their charter needs to be modified to better serve the African people at a conference held in commemoration of the organization's 25th anniversary on Monday. The conference which was organized by the Law Department of the American University in Cairo and several international human rights organizations, sought to raise awareness of the African human rights system and discuss the experience of member states and African civil society organizations in engaging with the system since its inauguration in 1981. "It was difficult to implement the system in 1981 because most governments in Africa did not respect human rights principles. It was hard to take it from the international level and implement on the regional political platform in Africa, Ibrahima Kane, senior lawyer from NGO Interlights argues. While members of the charter agreed that the African Human Rights Protection System helped introduce better human rights law in Africa and a better general sense of human rights principles in the region, they are worried that several African governments still do not recognize the principles of the charter. A representative from the Mauritanian Association for Human Rights said the implementation of the African human rights charter in collaboration with the African Commission on Human Rights has helped several NGOs to become recognized organizations in her country. "There are severe violations of human rights in my country. We as activists were being put into prison because of our work. But since the Mauritanian government was a member of the African Human Rights Charter, we are now able to prove the violations of human rights principles in our country that our government tries to hide before its people and the international community, she said. While conference participants do not believe that the Commission charter is weak in itself, it does lack the necessary protection mechanisms for human rights principles. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the African human rights charter, member states and the involved African civil society organizations suggested better coordination and closer collaboration among NGOs and the African Commission, enhanced human rights education among the general African population, increased negotiations with the African governments, and more frequent meetings on the development of the African Human Rights Charter. Chair Ambassador Ibrahim Badawi El-Sheikh, called on conference participants and organizers to communicate the aforementioned core points of the meeting to the African Commission for Human Rights, the African Union, as well as to independent African governments.
