VI. Federations and Cooperation
50. Associations shall be free to create national federations with legal status through
procedures substantively equivalent to those through which associations are
created. Associations shall also be free to create informal (de facto) national
federations.
51. Associations and national federations shall be able to join international
federations, and international federations shall be able to obtain legal status in
particular countries through procedures substantively equivalent to those through
which international associations may obtain such status.
52. The decision to form or not to form federations shall be made freely by civil
society actors. The state shall not stipulate by law the existence of particular or
exclusive regional or national federations of associations.39
53. The law shall not stipulate mandatory state membership of particular federations.40
54. States and officials shall refrain from interfering in domestic and international civil
society space through the creation, operation or provision of covert support for
non-independent civil society organizations.
VII. Sanctions and Remedies
55. States shall not impose criminal sanctions in the context of laws governing
not-for-profit associations.41 All criminal sanctions shall be specified within the
penal code and not elsewhere. Civil society shall not be governed by provisions of
criminal law different from the generally applicable provisions of the penal code.42
56. Sanctions shall be applied only in narrow and lawfully prescribed circumstances,
shall be strictly proportionate to the gravity of the misconduct in question, and
shall only be applied by an impartial, independent and regularly constituted court,
following a full trial and appeal process.
39 See Civil Liberties Organisation (in respect of the Nigerian Bar Association) v. Nigeria, Comm. No. 101/93
(1995), paras. 14-6.
40 See Civil Liberties Organisation (in respect of the Nigerian Bar Association) v. Nigeria, Comm. No. 101/93
(1995), paras. 14-6.
41 On the related issue of the inappropriate application of criminal measures to associations, see Malawi African
Association and others v. Mauritania, Comm. Nos. 54/91, 61/91, 98/93, 164-196/97 & 210/98 (2000), paras. 106-7.
42 Relating, for example, to fraud, embezzlement and similar offenses.
20 | African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights