Celebrating the enduring legacy of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa
Posted: 16 September, 2024 Filed under: Nicholas Cheruiyot | Tags: Access to Information, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African continent, Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, democracy, false news, information laws, information legislations, international human rights standards, internet shutdowns, intimidation, online harassment, physical threats, right to freedom of expression, Securing the Effective Realization of Access to Information in Africa, sexual violence, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, transparency, verbal abuse, violations Leave a comment
Author: Nicholas Cheruiyot
LLM Student, Centre for Human Rights
1 Introduction
The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (SR) was established in 2004 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Commission).[1] This was following a series of events beginning in 1998 when the idea of free and open internet was conceived,[2] considering the importance of access to information in relation to the freedom of expression. The SR is one of the special mechanisms within the Commission, whose purpose is to promote and protect the freedom of expression throughout the African continent.[3] As the SR marks two decades in 2024 since its establishment, it has made significant progress in shaping Africa’s freedom of expression and access to information landscape as discussed in this article. There have however been challenges which have hampered its important role.
It’s not just you and me, and that’s okay
Posted: 20 May, 2024 Filed under: David Ikpo, Victoria Amaechi | Tags: African continent, Beverley Ditsie, Coming out, Coming out vs Coming home, fight against discrimination, gay, gender expression, heteronormative standards, homonormative, homophobia, Justice Edwin Cameron, lgbtq, Mark Gevisser, multi-institutional relationships, political incorrectness, queer, queer inclusivity, queer persons, queer rights, queer visibility, Sassoi of Ghana, sexuality, Simon Nkoli, The Pink Line, Zachie Achmat 1 Comment |
Author: Victoria Amaechi Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria |
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Author: David Ikpo Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria |
Queer visibility, and what it accomplishes, turns the social, cultural and legal wheels towards queer inclusivity in society, and is a great complement to the advancement of queer rights on the African continent and globally.
On the African continent, South Africa sets the tone for the merits of queer visibility, through the openly politicised lives of queer icons such as Simon Nkoli, Beverley Ditsie, Justice Edwin Cameron and Zachie Achmat. Other African queer icons have also emerged through their great work, such as Caine Youngman of Botswana; David Kato, Kasha Jaqueline, Richard Lusimbo and Frank Mugisha of Uganda; Abdellah Taia of Morocco; Rev Jide Macaulay and Uyai Ikpe-Etim of Nigeria; Alex Donkor of Ghana and Eric Lembembe of Cameroon. This list does no justice to the infinite number of queer persons within and outside of civil society and government, in the full glare of public visibility, who work tirelessly for queer inclusion on the African continent. This work is no mean feat, and for the most part makes the difference between whether or not a person returns at night to their families after a day’s work, or whether or not there is a family to return to. However, this is not true for all of us.
AfricLaw 