ECOWAS’s permanent representative to the African Union, Hon Kolley, joined a panel on emerging human rights issues at a two-day forum in Dakar, Senegal, citing the bloc’s human rights instruments as examples of practice.
The 3rd Joint Special Mechanisms Forum and High-Level Dialogue on the African Charter, organised by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, was held on 20 and 21 October 2026 on the margins of the commission’s 89th Ordinary Session.
It was convened to mark 45 years since the African Charter was adopted and 40 years since it became operational, under the theme “Adoption and Implementation of the African Charter: A Journey Towards the Africa We Want.”
In a report from the Economic Community of West African States, Kolley’s panel was titled “The African Charter and Emerging Human Rights Issues.” The account says he shared practical examples drawn from ECOWAS experience rather than describing new commitments.
Among the practices he cited was the 2001 ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, which the report says specifically guarantees the rights contained in the African Charter and other international instruments in member states.
He also pointed to human rights protection written into the mandates of the ECOWAS Commission, the ECOWAS Parliament and the Community Court of Justice.
Two further examples were given: the designation of 16 January as ECOWAS Human Rights Day, described as an annual opportunity to reinforce awareness and commitment to fundamental rights, the rule of law and human dignity across the region; and the establishment of the Network of National Human Rights Institutions in West Africa, intended to strengthen and coordinate national institutions and bring their work into closer alignment with the Paris Principles.
Kolley also highlighted three regional policy documents — ECOWAS Vision 2050, “ECOWAS of the Peoples: Peace and Prosperity for All,” the Community Strategic Framework 2023–2027, and the 2026 Lungi Declaration on the Future of Regional Integration — which the report says reinforce the relationship between regional integration, peace, democratic governance, development and respect for human rights.
He concluded by calling for greater focus on implementation, for stronger national institutions, for closer cooperation between ECOWAS, the African Commission and other AU mechanisms, and for ensuring that regional human rights standards make a tangible difference in citizens’ daily lives.
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