Dakar, Senegal – With just two days remaining before the opening of the Forum of NGOs Participating in the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), attention is turning to one of the Forum’s most important outcomes: the resolutions and recommendations that will emerge from the deliberations of civil society organisations across Africa.
Scheduled for 8–10 October 2026 at the Pullman Dakar Teranga Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, the Forum, organised by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), provides a platform for civil society organisations, human rights defenders and other stakeholders to collectively assess the human rights situation on the continent and propose concrete measures to address persistent and emerging challenges.
Resolutions and recommendations are more than documents; they are tools for advocacy, accountability and action.
Resolutions allow civil society organisations to bring specific human rights concerns to the attention of the African Commission and call for collective action on issues requiring urgent attention. They can highlight patterns of violations, identify gaps in the protection of fundamental freedoms and encourage stronger responses from states and relevant institutions.
Recommendations, meanwhile, provide practical proposals for addressing identified challenges. They can call on governments to strengthen legal protections, improve the implementation of human rights commitments, protect human rights defenders, safeguard civic space and ensure that national policies comply with regional and international human rights standards.
Together, these outcomes help translate the experiences and concerns of communities into concrete proposals for institutional and policy change.
Strengthening Civil Society’s Voice
The importance of the Forum’s resolutions and recommendations lies partly in their collective character. When organisations from different countries come together to document shared challenges and agree on common priorities, they strengthen the visibility and credibility of their advocacy.
A concern raised by one organisation may reflect a wider regional problem. Through collective deliberation, participants can build a common position, draw attention to recurring violations and encourage coordinated responses across national borders.
The process also creates an opportunity for organisations working on different human rights issues to learn from one another, identify common priorities and develop recommendations that reflect the realities of affected communities.
Influencing the African Human Rights System
The Forum takes place alongside the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, creating an important opportunity for civil society to contribute to discussions within Africa’s regional human rights system.
Well-documented resolutions and recommendations can help draw the Commission’s attention to emerging concerns, inform its deliberations and encourage stronger engagement with states on their human rights obligations.
They can also provide a reference point for continued advocacy, follow-up and monitoring after the Forum concludes.
However, their effectiveness depends not only on their adoption but also on the quality of the evidence supporting them, the clarity of the proposed actions and the commitment of stakeholders to pursue their implementation.
From Recommendations to Real Change
The value of any resolution or recommendation ultimately depends on what happens after it is adopted.
Civil society organisations have an important role to play in following up on agreed outcomes, engaging national institutions, monitoring government responses and informing communities about progress and outstanding challenges.
Governments and relevant institutions must also be encouraged to take these recommendations seriously and translate them into practical measures that improve human rights protection.
For this reason, participants are encouraged to ensure that their proposed resolutions and recommendations are clear, evidence-based, action-oriented and responsive to the needs of the people whose rights they seek to protect.
As the Forum approaches, ACDHRS has invited participants to submit their proposed country-specific resolutions, thematic resolutions and thematic recommendations ahead of the meeting, allowing these issues to be considered as part of the Forum’s preparations.
With two days to go, the message is clear: the strength of the Forum will be measured not only by the quality of its discussions but also by the relevance of its outcomes and the determination to turn agreed priorities into action.
As Africa’s human rights community prepares to gather in Dakar, the challenge is to ensure that the voices heard, concerns raised and commitments made translate into stronger protections, greater accountability and meaningful progress for human rights across the continent.
Forum Details
- Event: Forum of NGOs Participating in the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
- Date: 8–10 October 2026
- Venue: Pullman Dakar Teranga Hotel, Dakar, Senegal
- Organiser: African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS)
Two days to go. Let us turn collective concerns into meaningful recommendations and resolutions that advance human rights for all.
