The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) is an pan African non-governmental organisation whose primary work is the provision of pro bono legal counsel to victims of human rights violations. In its litigation mandate, IHRDA represents victims of human rights violations in cases before national courts and African regional human rights instances.
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History
The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa was founded and established in 1998 in Banjul, the Gambia, by two human rights lawyers, Julia Harrington and Alpha Fall, who had worked for the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
IHRDA’s mandate is to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of the human rights protection mechanisms of the African Union, since the most critical challenge to the effectiveness of the African human rights system is a lack of awareness concerning its procedures. IHRDA has undertaken to promote respect for human rights on the continent by strengthening the human rights institutions in Africa, ensuring compliance with the existing norms and making the system widely accessible to victims of human rights violations and other actors of civil society.
On February 11, 2008, IHRDA celebrated ten years of standing up for human rights in Africa. Throughout the year, all IHRDA publications were marked with a special ten-year anniversary banner.
Work
To achieve its mandate, IHRDA uses its particular expertise in the application of African human rights law to:
Cases and legal work
IHRDA engages with domestic actors in various countries through capacity-building and case-building, and provides pro bono legal counsel to victims of human rights violations. By instituting cases on behalf of victims of human rights violations, IHRDA aims to increase the application and enforcement of African human rights instruments to bring effective remedies to these victims.
IHRDA maintains a focus on refugee and minority rights, rights of children and economic and social rights. However IHRDA continues to undertake litigation on diverse issues such as the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination.
Dissemination of information
IHRDA runs the African Human Rights Case Law Analyser (the CLA), which is the first and most comprehensive online collection of legislations and decisions from African regional and sub-regional human rights protection bodies in three languages (English, French and Portuguese).
Recently, IHRDA launched an online database of legal resources (laws and court judgments in English and French) related to sexual and gender-based violence in African countries, with Kenya, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo as pilot countries.
Board
The Board of Directors is responsible for policy development and general management of IHRDA. Members of the Board are appointed based on their expertise and experience in international human rights law and their interest in human rights and development in Africa.
Partners
IHRDA works with different organisations active in various African countries and involved in the protection and promotion of human rights through the African Human Rights System. Together, they aim to train human rights defenders in the complaints procedures of the African Human Rights System, define cases and represent clients in strategic public interest human rights litigation.