The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (the Special Rapporteur), one of the special mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission), is undertaking an initiative to revise the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa (the Declaration), which was adopted during the 32nd Ordinary Session in October 2002.

 

This initiative is being undertaken in pursuance of Resolutions 362, 350 and 222 of the African Commission, which mandated the Special Rapporteur, in conjunction with State Parties, civil society and other stakeholders, to revise and/or expand the Declaration to cover freedom of expression and access to information issues that may have been only part-included or not included at all in the Declaration, including by taking account of developments in the internet age.

 

The draft Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (Draft Declaration) has been developed under the leadership of the Special Rapporteur.

 

As part of the consultative process, the Special Rapporteur invites all state and non-state stakeholders to forward their inputs on the draft Declaration, by close of business on 01 July 2019.

 

The Draft Declaration can be found using the link above, to the English, French and Portuguese versions.

 

Contributions should be sent to the Secretariat of the African Commission on the following email address: au-banjul@africa-union.org.

Done in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, 30 April 2019