The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria and its partners ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa, and ARTICLE 19 Senegal and West Africa launched four reports on Proactive Disclosure of Information and Elections in Africa, during a webinar that was held on 26 September 2023. The reports assessed state compliance with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 2017 Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa (the Guidelines). The studies focused on the recent elections in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and The Gambia. The initiative was undertaken with the support of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, currently led by Hon Commissioner Ourveena Geeresha Topsy-Sonoo.
The reports examine the proactive disclosure of credible election-related information by election management bodies; appointing authorities; law enforcement agencies; political parties and candidates; media and regulatory bodies; election observers; and civil society, as envisaged under the Guidelines. The assessment is primarily on the basis of the Guidelines and also considers the national access to information legislative framework as well as other regional and international human rights obligations. It also assesses the application and impact of digital technologies on access to information during elections; the impact of information disorder on electoral information integrity; and access to information for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The reports also include detailed sector-specific recommendations.
The assessment of compliance with the Guidelines is meant to analyse information disclosure practices by electoral stakeholders throughout the electoral cycles in their countries; to facilitate the development of an evidence-based tool for advocacy on access to information in elections; to analyse the overall performance of the continent on electoral transparency and integrity; and to frame recommendations that become entry points in advocating for electoral transparency.
The reports were compiled by four researchers, namely: Lawrence Mute (Kenya); Michael Nyarko, Dr Michael Addaney and Bright Sefah (Ghana); Jeggan Grey-Johnson (The Gambia); and Dr Peter Mutesasira and Dr Daniel Rhuweza (Uganda). During the launch, the researchers presented the main findings and recommendations of the individual country assessments.
The Centre for Human Rights in collaboration with the Zimbabwean chapter of Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Zimbabwe) is finalising the assessment of the Zimbabwean elections that were held on 23 August 2023. During the webinar, the main findings of the assessment were presented by the researcher Prof Admire Mare.
The webinar ended with a discussion led by Maxwell Kadiri on some of the developments on the continent in relation to elections and democratic governance. The highlights of the discussion were the deployment of technology during elections in Africa; the eruption of military coups that undermine the peaceful transfer of political power through elections; the mainstreaming of the elections component into the existing special mechanisms of the African Commission; and the need to fully deploy the instruments that have been developed by the African Commission through the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information In Africa.
Following the launch of the reports, advocacy initiatives will be undertaken to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations.
