Prioritising Human Rights in Africa.

Solomon Dersso was the Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Union's body charged with promoting and protecting human rights and other freedoms in Africa between 2019 and 2021. In this interview with Africa Renewal's Kingsley Ighobor, Dr. Dersso reflects on his tenure, Africa's current human rights situation and what the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights means for the continent. These are the excerpts:

You were the Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) between 2019 and 2021. What are your reflections on your tenure?

I became the Chairperson of the Commission just before the COVID-19 outbreak. It was a time of emergency. So, a great deal of our engagement was focused on adjusting and responding to the difficult COVID-19 conditions.

According to Amnesty International, we were the first human rights body in the world to issue a statement on COVID-19 and call for human rights-based response measures. That was on 28 February 2020-just days before WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Also, one of our priorities in our 2021-2025 strategy was to bring human rights to the wider policy and governance processes of both the African Union and the wider continent. For example, we institutionalized the annual consultative meeting between the Commission and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, which is the AU's premier decision-making body on peace and security matters. In civil wars and other conflicts, there is a need for the AU's Peace and Security Council to integrate human rights concerns and issues into its decision-making processes.

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We broadened our engagement with civil society organizations and supported the forming of national human rights institutions to bridge the gap between continental-level discussions and policymaking and the promotion of human rights at the national levels.

We also deepened our collaboration with the UN system. Indeed, the ACHPR and Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [2018-2022], issued a joint statement on COVID-19 and its impact on the human rights of women and vulnerable groups, and the need for international action to address the economic consequences of the pandemic.

You were quite outspoken about the human rights dimension of COVID-19. Did your advocacy make some...