African values under threat: African Commission must defend them
A poster featuring an all-white male panel of speakers from Europe, the US and other regions circulated online, promoting a pan-African conference on African Family Values.
The line-up was a tell-tale sign of yet another event underwritten by Global North actors with a clear anti-rights agenda. The organisers were
The main speakers were from organisations such as CitizenGo, Family Watch International, Family Policy Institute and Christian Council International, as well as churches and parliamentarians. These were also among the supporters and sponsors for the event. These organisations are known for conservative family and societal values advocating for what they call 'traditional family values'.
The event organisers, African Christian Professionals Forum, has deep ties with these organisations including some of its board members
At its
Event participants not only advocate in their countries on these topics but also at regional forums, including the African Union, and at the international level. Civil society has
The 2025 Convention on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls is thought to be their next advocacy target. They will probably argue that this treaty
This conference comes at a time of
The conference was attended by MPs from Uganda and Malawi and Kenyan lawyers. This is unsurprising since there have long been reports that US groups have
The language of 'African values' emerged at the regional level in 2018 when the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), the continent's highest human rights body, at the instruction of the African Union,
In 2022 the ACHPR, this time on its own accord, then
But what does it mean to be African? What are African values?
The African Charter empowers the ACHPR to undertake studies and research to address such questions. The ACHPR then uses these studies as a basis for principles and rules to guide African governments. In this vein, in 2023 the African Commission
In answering this question, there are three key areas the ACHPR should consider.
First is a recognition that African families are incredibly diverse. The drafters of the African Charter acknowledged that African society is far too complex to be neatly compartmentalised. It was for this reason that the charter deliberately fails to define the notion of 'peoples', in clear recognition of the diversity of African families, societies and communities. The ACHPR must likewise not confine African identities to cis-gender and heterosexual, nor restrict the concept of the African family to a nuclear model.
Second is that the principle of non-discrimination permeates the charter and provides the touchstone of the African concept of human rights. The charter affirms that 'every individual shall respect and consider his fellow beings without discrimination and to maintain relations aimed at promoting, safeguarding and reinforcing mutual respect and tolerance'.
The charter's drafters entrenched the idea of non-discrimination because, at the time, African leaders were focused on liberation from colonialism and racism. Indeed, the document broke new ground by prohibiting ethnic discrimination, a prohibition not found in other international agreements at the time. Non-discrimination against LGBTI people is firmly within both the letter and spirit of the African Charter's values.
And finally that LGBTI identities are firmly ensconced in African values historically. Same-sex sexualities and gender diversity were
With anti-rights actors co-opting African values using neo-colonial tactics, there is greater urgency for the ACHPR to reclaim African values and redefine them in accordance with the African Charter. Drawing on the wisdom of our forebears, the ACHPR must affirm that discrimination has no place in African societies. It should root its approach in both our pre-colonial histories and the present reality of millions of LGBTI Africans who are entitled to the same human rights as anyone else, no matter what opportunistic western anti-rights actors might say. African values must be used to advance inclusion, non-discrimination and equality, not exclusion and discrimination.
Khanyo Faris is a senior researcher on civic space at Amnesty International, East and Southern Africa.
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