In Dafur’s case, 279/03-296/05 : Sudan Human Rights Organization & Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) Sudan, the African Commission used the facts of the case that relate to the rights to housing, food and water to find a violation of Article 5. It argued that the forced eviction of civilian population from their homes and villages, and the destruction of their houses, water wells, food crops, livestock and social infrastructure by the state and its agents amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that threatened the very essence of human dignity. The Applicants also claim that their right to be heard has been violated by the Respondent as they were not informed of any offence they committed and were not heard before demolishing their property. The right to be heard has a corresponding right to be informed. This is so because of the underlying principle of presumption of innocence. Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights not only guarantees the right to be heard, but also states the right to be proved innocent until proven guilty. Article 4 of the ICCPR provides:  “ in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the state parties to the present covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination only on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin.  No derogation from Articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs 1 and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision.  Any state party to the present covenant availing itself of the right of derogation shall immediately inform the other states parties to the present covenant, through the intermediary of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, of the provisions from which it has derogated and of the reasons by which it was actuated. A further communication shall be made, through the same intermediary, on the date on which it terminates such derogation.” This Article thus sets out those rights from which states can never derogate, even in times of public emergency that threatens the life of the nation of which Article 7 is one of them. 13