RFLD will take part in the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, from 8 to 10 October 2026 in Dakar in Senegal. The Forum is convened by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), with which RFLD has a partnership agreement. RFLD joins this edition as a partner of the Forum.
This year’s theme follows the African Union theme for 2026: Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.
Thursday 8 October: RFLD on the programme
Opening ceremony. John GBENAGNON, Director of Strategy and Development and Head of the RFLD delegation, will deliver a statement on behalf of RFLD and of its Africa Director, Dossi Sêkonnou Gloria AGUEH. The statement links the water theme to Article 15 of the Maputo Protocol, which commits States to give women access to clean drinking water, and to the safety of the women human rights defenders who monitor public services.
Human rights and democracy in Africa. From 10:40, John GBENAGNON moderates the first working session of the Forum, where the sub-regional focal points report on the situation of human rights and democracy in Central, Eastern, Northern, Western and Southern Africa and in the Lusophone network.
Panel 1, the RFLD session. From 14:20, RFLD convenes a panel on a question at the heart of its work: what does an Afrofeminist reading of shrinking civic space tell us about protecting freedom of expression, association and assembly in Africa, and what practical steps can States and the African Commission take to defend those freedoms?
- Moderator: John GBENAGNON, RFLD
- Omolara Balogun, Head of Policy Influencing and Advocacy, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI)
- Naji Moulay Lahsen, CIDH Africa
- Bathor Seck, RFLD Country Director for Senegal
A delegation at the Forum
RFLD comes to Dakar with a delegation of 40 people, defenders and teams. Its members will take part in the plenary, the West Africa caucus and the thematic working groups, and will contribute to the resolutions and recommendations of the Forum.
On Saturday 10 October, RFLD also holds a closed working session for its delegation on the Gender Mainstreaming Tool, the common instrument its member organisations use to document attacks against women defenders.
The Forum opens a busy fortnight. RFLD’s panel “Defending without being exposed” is on the main agenda of the 89th Ordinary Session on 12 October.
Times are taken from the revised agenda shared by ACDHRS on 5 October 2026 and may change. Follow RFLD on Facebook, LinkedIn and X for daily updates from Dakar. Media enquiries: communications.info@rflgd.org.
