Introduction
The Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access
to Information in Africa (the Declaration) was adopted by the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African
Commission) at its 65th Ordinary Session which was held from 21
October to 10 November 2019 in Banjul, The Gambia. The
Declaration was prepared pursuant to Article 45 1 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter) which
requires the African Commission to promote human and peoples’
rights, among others, by formulating and laying down principles and
rules to solve legal problems relating to human and peoples’ rights
and fundamental freedoms upon which African States may base their
legislation.
The Declaration establishes or affirms the principles for anchoring
the rights to freedom of expression and access to information in
conformance with Article 9 of the African Charter which guarantees
individuals the right to receive information as well as the right to
express and disseminate information. The Declaration therefore
forms part of the soft-law corpus of Article 9 norms developed by the
African Commission, including the Model Law on Access to
Information for Africa as well as the Guidelines on Access to
Information and Elections in Africa, adopted by the Commission,
respectively, in 2013 and 2017.
This Declaration replaces the Declaration of Principles on
Freedom of Expression in Africa which the African Commission had
adopted in 2002. The 2002 Declaration elaborated on the scope and
content of Article 9 of the African Charter. Yet, over the last two
decades, major pertinent issues emerged which were addressed
insufficiently. This was notably the case in relation to access to
information and the interface between Article 9 rights and the
internet.
Consequently, initially in 2012 and then again in 2016, the
African Commission decided to modify the 2002 Declaration to
include access to information while also taking note of developments
in the internet age. Hence, this Declaration consolidates
developments on freedom of expression and access to information
guided by hard-law and soft-law standards drawn from African and