Most shadow reports are read by busy Commissioners in the weeks before a session. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has set clear rules on what they should look like. RFLD’s manual, Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, treats those rules as the binding reference for every submission.
Where the rules come from
Rule 79(3) of the Commission’s 2020 Rules of Procedure says that shadow reports “should follow the Commission’s Guidelines on Shadow Reports.” Those Guidelines were adopted at the Commission’s 72nd Ordinary Session, held from 19 July to 2 August 2022, and published on 28 October 2022. They are available in English, French, Portuguese, Arabic and Kiswahili. They followed Resolution 436 of 2020, in which the Commission asked for such guidelines to be developed.
Who can submit
The Guidelines open the door widely. National human rights institutions, NGOs with observer status, institutions and “any other interested party” may submit. The manual makes a point that surprises many first-time authors: you do not need observer status to send a shadow report. Observer status is needed to make oral statements in the public session and to propose agenda items. A group without it can partner with one that has it.
The format, point by point
The Guidelines set the following rules:
The main text is 15 pages or fewer. The cover page and footnotes do not count towards the limit, and up to 10 annexes may be added outside it. The file must be in Word format, in 12-point font with 1.5 line spacing. Paragraphs and pages are numbered. The report opens with a table of contents and an executive summary of no more than one page, followed by an introduction. It must be written in at least one official language of the African Union.
The African Union’s six official languages are English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and Kiswahili. The manual’s final checklist adds a practical step: if possible, plan a second language version.
How to treat each issue
The Guidelines also describe how each issue should be handled. For every issue, the author should:
- cite the passage of the State report concerned
- say whether it is accurate, and give the evidence
- suggest questions the Commission could ask the State
- propose “concrete and implementable recommendations”
This four-step pattern is the backbone of the writing module in RFLD’s manual. It keeps the report focused on the State’s own claims, which is what Rule 79(3) requires when it says contributions should “speak to the actual Report.”
Evidence and authorship
The Guidelines ask for “reliable, and objective information.” They give examples: court cases, official reports, research, surveys and up-to-date statistics. RFLD’s manual builds on this with a working rule of its own: every major claim should rest on at least two independent types of source.
Joint reports are encouraged. All signatories should be listed on the cover or in an annex. Shadow reports are published with the authors’ names, and authors who fear retaliation may ask for anonymity. The manual treats this option seriously, because the safety of contributors comes before visibility.
For reports focused on the Maputo Protocol, the Guidelines point back to the Protocol’s own State reporting guidelines. In practice, this means organising the report around the eight thematic clusters of Part B, from equality and non-discrimination to specially protected groups of women.
What fits in 15 pages
Fifteen pages is short, especially for a coalition with a lot of evidence. The manual suggests some ways to make it work. Choose a limited number of priority issues where your evidence is strongest. Move detailed tables and case summaries into annexes, within the limit of ten. Keep the executive summary to one page and make it readable on its own, since some readers will go no further. Write recommendations that the Commission could adopt word for word.
The Guidelines allow length to go to annexes, and the manual recommends using them. A Commissioner who wants detail can find it there. A Commissioner with ten minutes reads the summary and the recommendations.
The final check
Before sending, the manual’s eight-point checklist asks whether the report speaks to the State report and cites its paragraphs, whether the format rules are met, whether there is a one-page summary, whether every figure has a source, whether each issue has questions and SMART recommendations, whether identifying details have been removed and consent recorded, whether all coalition members have validated the text, and whether the language requirement is met.
Format can feel like a formality. It is also a signal of credibility. A report that follows the Commission’s own rules is easier to use. Groups that want to compare these rules with those of the United Nations can find a comparison in the manual’s Module 9 and in RFLD’s summary of the manual.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
