A few hours ago, the opening session of the 66th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ended, which is supposed to continue until August 7, 2020. In turn, the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights participated in the session and will continue to participate in the remaining open sessions to follow up on the latest human rights developments on the African continent, in addition to highlighting Shedding light on the most prominent issues plaguing the continent.

The 66th session of the African Commission focuses on the impact of the spread of the Covid-19 virus on the human rights situation in Africa and discusses the key human rights issues emerging in the context of the spread of the virus and the measures taken by the Commission to respond thereto.

This is in addition to the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Malawi reviewing the human rights situation, presenting their reports and listening to the recommendations of the members of the African Commission to improve the human rights situation throughout the days of the session.

For his part, Ayman Aqil, Chairman of the Maat Peace Foundation, stated that the Foundation’s African Affairs Unit team had participated in the non-governmental organizations forum preceding the 66th session, which submits its recommendations regarding the situation of human rights in Africa to the members of the committee to be included in the reports of the session. He also explained that despite facilitating the work of the committee Through electronic applications, it is a good thing to overcome the negative effects of Corona, but this revealed a deficiency in delivering Internet services to several African countries so far, which must be placed on the list of priorities in the coming period.

During her participation, Hajar Monsef, Director of the African Affairs and Sustainable Development Unit, stated that the 66th session has special importance based on the doubling of the suffering of the African people due to the spread of the Corona virus, and that the committee has a great responsibility to pressure countries to take further measures to protect human rights, especially the rights that have been proven by the pandemic. Corona, the extent of its violations, such as the right to health and the right to food, in addition to the necessity of highlighting the increasing cases of domestic violence against women and children during this period.

It is worth noting that the Maat Foundation participates in the various African Union mechanisms for protecting human rights, being a member of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union, in addition to being the North Africa coordinator in a group of major organizations.