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Category: African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

  • Yet again, Zambian journalist Thomas Allan Zgambo faces prison over reporting

    Lusaka, August 21, 2024—Zambian journalist Thomas Allan Zgambo is facing up to seven years in prison for his reporting on corruption and poor governance in the southern African nation. It is at least the third time that Zgambo has risked imprisonment for his online journalism, a growing threat for journalists in many African countries.

    On August 6, Zgambo was arrested on allegations of publishing seditious material, which under Zambian law includes content advocating for the overthrow of the government or raising “disaffection” among the public, for his July 28 commentary on the Facebook page of the online news outlet Zambian Whistleblower, which called on the government to be transparent about any links between a property it had rented and President Hakainde Hichilema.

    Zgambo told CPJ that the police detained him in a cell until August 8 in a bid to get him to reveal his sources. “That is why they held me there for two nights. They just wanted to punish me,” said the journalist, who is due back in court on August 22.

    When Hichilema won a landslide victory in 2021, he vowed that “the media will be freed” amid broader rhetoric on improving conditions for the press in Zambia. Despite these commitments, CPJ has since documented several attacks on the press, including arrests of journalists covering protests and the opposition.

    “President Hakainde Hichilema’s promises to ensure media freedom in Zambia ring hollow after a journalist who criticized him was arrested and charged with an offense that carries a lengthy prison term,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Zambian authorities must immediately drop all legal proceedings against Thomas Allan Zgambo. In addition, Zambia should scrap laws that criminalize the work of the press.”

    A pattern of legal harassment 

    Zambia is widely seen as one of Africa’s most stable democracies. From 2017 to 2022, it had no journalists in jail at 12:01 a.m. local time on December 1, when CPJ’s annual prison census is conducted.

    In 2023, Zgambo became the first Zambian journalist to appear in the census in seven years. He was arrested on November 28 over his Zambian Whistleblower report that the Zambia National Service, an arm of the defense force, was importing “substandard” genetically modified maize from South Africa without informing consumers of any potential harm.

    Zgambo was freed on bail on the morning of December 1, 2023, and is due back in court for a hearing on this case on August 27.

    Zgambo is no stranger to the Zambian courts. He was first charged with sedition in 2013 after documents about the then-President Michael Sata were found in his home. Zgambo told CPJ that he was released on police bond but never received a date to appear in court. Sata died in 2014.

    Weaponizing laws to target online journalism 

    Like Zgambo, an increasing number of journalists in the region mainly publish via social media amid falling mainstream revenues and government repression. For example, in Somalia, social media can be a lifeline for local communities to access independent journalism and for freelancers to share their reporting.

    CPJ has been tracking the weaponization of existing, often colonial–era, legislation to criminalize journalism, as well as the introduction of new laws to target online freedom of expression in countries like Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya. Eleven of the 12 imprisoned Rwandan and Ethiopian journalists in CPJ’s 2023 prison census operate outlets that publish on YouTube. 

    The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, an African Union body, has called on countries in the region to repeal all criminal defamation, insult, and sedition laws. Although sedition provisions have been repealed in Uganda and Malawi, countries such as Zambia and Tanzania continue to use them against journalists.

    Zambia’s State House spokesperson Clayson Hamasaka referred CPJ’s request for comment to the police. Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga did not respond to CPJ’s calls and text messages requesting comment.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • In Cameroon, long-running defamation case highlights vexatious suits against journalists

    Dakar, August 20, 2024—Cameroonian journalist Samuel Bondjock has had to appear in court more than 30 times in almost 30 months to face criminal defamation charges that could put him in jail — even though the country’s media regulator dismissed the complaint against him in 2022.

    His next appearance in the capital Yaounde is scheduled for August 27, but Bondjock has little hope there will be any resolution in what is seen as a classic example of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) — a vexatious type of lawsuit increasingly used against those who express critical opinions.

    These suits frequently invoke criminal defamation laws to punish and censor journalists. In Cameroon, Bondjock — the publishing director of the privately owned online news site Direct Info — is the country’s latest journalist to be accused of defaming influential figures such as football stars, writers, government officials, lawmakers, pastors, and the politically connected.

    “Authorities must end the legal harassment and weaponization of Cameroon’s judicial system against Samuel Bondjock, especially as the country’s media regulator has already exonerated him,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “Cameroon should follow the examples of several other African states to decriminalize defamation, in line with a 2010 resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and must ensure that SLAPP lawsuits are not used to censor the press.”

    In March 2022, Ahmadou Sardaouna, the managing director of the state-run Cameroon Real Estate Company (SIC), filed criminal complaints against Bondjock for “impugning his honor” in two articles published in December 2021 and February 2022, according to CPJ’s review of the complaints and news reports.

    Four months later, Sardaouna also lodged a complaint with Cameroon’s National Communication Council (NCC) for “unsubstantiated accusations likely to damage his image.” The media regulator ruled in Bondjock’s favor, saying his journalism had met “professional requirements of investigation and cross-checking,” according to a copy of its July 29, 2022, decision, reviewed by CPJ.

    Bondjock told CPJ that he has little hope that his trial will begin this month because Sardaouna’s absence led to repeated postponements of previous hearings  “The plaintiff is doing nothing but delaying tactics to prolong this trial in order to exhaust me financially, morally, and even professionally, by wasting my time. My lawyer defends me despite many unpaid fees,” he said.

    Joseph Jules Nkana, Sardaouna’s lawyer, told CPJ that his client had not refused to attend previous hearings and that mediation was undertaken by “Bondjock’s colleagues.” However, the journalist had refused to meet to conclude an agreement, Nkana said.

    François Mboke, president of the Cameroon network of press outlet owners, who initiated mediation in 2022 to stop the prosecution, told CPJ that it had not been successful.

    Bondjock told CPJ there was no reason for him to try to seek an agreement with Sardaouna, as the NCC had ruled in his favor.

    Under Cameroon’s penal code, defamation is punishable by a prison sentence of six days to six months and a fine of up to 2 million CFA francs (US$3,330).

    In a joint 2023 submission to the U.N. Human Rights Council scrutinizing Cameroon’s human rights record, CPJ and other rights groups noted at least four cases of arrest and conviction for defamation between 2019 and 2022, including against Martinez Zogo, who was killed in 2023.

    Other sub-Saharan countries that have criminalized defamation include Nigeria, Angola, Togo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In June 2024, Niger reinstated prison sentences for defamation and insult that had been replaced by fines two years earlier.

    Denis Omgba Bomba, director of the media observatory at Cameroon’s Ministry of Communication, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment on Bondjock’s case via messaging app.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Environmental defenders call for better protection by the African Commission

    The Environmental Rights Agreement Coalition called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to develop an environmental rights agreement to increase public participation and protect environmental rights defenders. The Environmental Rights Agreement (ERA) Coalition organised, on 21 October 2023, a side event on the margins of the 77th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission).

    Participants shared information on the movement for an environmental rights legal framework for Africa, lessons learned and generated wider support for the ERA movement. Joseph Burke, Head of Universal Rights Group Africa noted some progress in the protection of the environment globally such as the African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, Paris Agreement and the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (ESCAZU Agreement). However, environmental rights defenders continue to face significant barriers to the conduct of their activities. According to Global Witness, one environmental defender was killed every two days in 2022 while the rest were subjected to violence, harassment and criminalisation. In its statement before the African Commission, ISHR reiterated this worrisome trend on the African continent.

    Rights of Indigenous communities not recognised

    Two panellists reviewed national trends in Kenya and Tanzania on the protection of environmental rights and public participation. In Kenya, Emily Kinama, Research and Litigation Associate at Katiba Institute stated that there do not exist laws which cater for environmental rights in Kenya. Civil society organisations have used public interest litigation to challenge laws that criminalise environmental and land rights defenders but the impact of these actions has, at times, been marginal because of strategic lawsuits against public participation. ‘Indigenous peoples’ rights are not recognised despite the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ judgment in the Ogiek case reiterating the obligations of Kenya to promote and protect their rights. This judgement has not been implemented by Kenya, six years after it was handed down’, said Kinama. She concluded by stating that ‘Kenya should continue to recognise their rights and pass laws and processes following the historical injustice stage and ensure the participation of Indigenous population in the protection of the environment given that Indigenous peoples have been protecting it since time immemorial’. 

    The relevance of inclusive participation

    In her presentation, Miriam Tikoine, from the Maasai Women Development Organization, highlighted the necessity to involve the Maasai, and other pastoral communities in environmental and climate change debates, and to raise their awareness on environmental matters for them to understand the importance of protecting the environment.

    Farmers should be trained on how to face climate change issues and adapt their farming practices; youth, traditional leaders and women should understand carbon credit-related concerns so that they can take action. If everyone is not involved, climate change and environmental concerns will remain a matter of just a few.

    Litigating environmental rights

    The African Commision’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals, Commissioner Remy Lumbu, called on States to strengthen human and environmental rights education, transparency and accountability in extractive industries to prevent leonine contracts which only benefit powerful businesses and sacrifice the interests and rights of present and future generations. Environmental rights defenders raise their voices against such contracts and stand against State and business’ practices which endanger the planet. Commissioner Lumbu said that this role played by environmental defenders has been recognised by the African Commission which has established this mechanism to remind States of their obligations, send urgent appeal letters or publish press releases when environmental defenders are in danger. These efforts must be honed by increased litigation activism, before national and African human rights bodies, on the part of NGOs. 

    We have not had enough communications on environmental rights concerns. NGOs must start challenging behaviours of States before the African Commission or the Court. If 40 NGOs decide to work on one case each, we will have 40 environmental rights-related cases before the African Commission in one year.

    The need for an environmental rights instrument

    The Coalition called the Special Rapporteur, and the African Commission as a whole, to champion a process geared towards the development and the adoption of an environmental rights instrument.

    The impact of businesses has crossed on people leading them into poverty. As civil society organisations, we have realised we need to protect our resources and planet and those who put their lives at risk. Environmental rights defenders are at the forefront but have been victims of several human rights violations including arbitrary killings. With the massive onslaught of business in Africa, our resources and individuals protecting them must be protected by a tailor-made legal instrument as other regions have done.

    https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/achpr77-environmental-defenders-call-for-better-protection-by-the-african-commission/

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.