After months of raising awareness about Resolution 472 of 2020, which prohibits the trade, sale, and export of torture tools across the African continent, which was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the project has reached its conclusion.

The project wrapped up following a series of events and activities, beginning with a three-day regional workshop attended by the working team of Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa as one of the special mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. CPTA team was led by Commissioner Hatem Al-Saem, Chairperson of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa, alongside legal expert Mohamed Saqr and expert Sana Boussabih. Civil society representatives from 5 African countries—Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and Egypt—also participated, along with legal and human rights experts from Egypt. The workshop included a mix of awareness and training sessions aimed at raising awareness about Resolution 472, enhancing capacities, and discussing strategies for its implementation and promoting compliance across North African countries.

Within the context of Maat’s focus on expanding knowledge about Resolution 472, Maat launched an informative guidebook to raise awareness about the ACHPR resolution 472. The association also utilized social media as a platform for awareness, running an online campaign titled “Your Guide to” to promote the resolution and its principles.

This came before the launch of the North African Coalition for Mobilization, Advocacy and Awareness of Resolution 472 in the region under the title “North African Coalition for Torture-Free Trade”, which began its work in parallel in the five countries of interest: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Libya, by organizing five online events and activities to raise awareness about the African resolution and the reality of torture-free trade at the national level in North Africa with the participation of workers in civil society organizations and stakeholders concerned with the human rights reality in the North African region.

Commenting on the project, Mr. Ayman Okeil, Chairman of Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, pointed out the importance of civil society organizations focusing on making creative efforts in the field of developing the human rights reality within the regions of the continent, explaining that the workshop comes within the framework of those efforts focused on introducing African decisions that have a profound impact on the human rights reality on the continent, most notably Resolution 472 to ban the trade, export and production of torture tools in Africa.

In the same context, Abdel Rahman Basha, Director of Programs and Projects at Maat association and Project Coordinator, called on African civil society organizations, especially in the northern region of the continent, to take proactive steps to expand the circle of awareness, mobilization and advocacy for flexible African laws in order to enhance the human rights reality on the continent.

Notedly, the "Torture-Free Trade in North Africa" project, jointly funded by the European Union and Omega Research Foundation, aimed to improve the human rights landscape within the African continent by focusing on raising awareness of resolutions adopted by the ACHPR, rooted in the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.