Unanimously… the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights grants the Maat Foundation observer status

Aqeel: We seek to knock on all doors to pressure states to improve human rights conditions

Moncef: We will work with the committee to reach victims of violations in the most dangerous areas of the African continent

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights of the African Union announced during its sixty-seventh regular session the granting of the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights observer status in the Commission as a non-governmental organization working in the field of human rights in Africa, and this came in accordance with Commission Resolution No. 361 of 2016. The Commissioner Solomon stated Eli Dirso, President of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, said that the Maat Foundation has fulfilled all the conditions and criteria for obtaining the status in accordance with the Commission’s rules. Commissioner Alexia Gertrude Amisbury, who is responsible for the human rights file in the Arab Republic of Egypt, recommended that the Maat Foundation be granted observer status. The commission’s decision to grant the status came unanimous.

For his part, Ayman Aqil, President of the Maat Foundation for Peace and Development and Human Rights commented that the Foundation seeks to follow all methods and knock all doors to use all legitimate methods to improve human rights conditions and pressure countries to abide by their international obligations to protect and respect their people. The African Commission comes on top of these mechanisms due to its powers and competence towards All African countries, and then Maat will use the status of observer to shed light to expose the violations against African peoples at the human rights or developmental level, whether from other African countries or non-African countries.

In this context, Hajer Moncef, Director of the African Affairs and Sustainable Development Unit, stated that the unit team will work intensively with all the special mechanisms in the committee, from special rapporteurs to working groups or committees to reach victims of human rights violations in all African countries, which include villages and remote areas or Marginalized in order to provide the required support and submit our report to the committee to take the required measures to hold the perpetrators accountable and immediately stop the violation Hajar added that the year 2021 will witness deep cooperation between Maat and the African Commission.

It is worth noting that Africa comes within the interest of the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, as it is a member of the General Assembly in the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union, as well as the North Africa region coordinator in the group of major NGOs in Africa of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.