Between 2006 and 2020, according to UNESCO Director-General's Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, 174 journalists have been killed in Africa, with only 10,3% of cases reported as being judicially resolved.
Despite these grim statistics, a series of landmark decisions by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights directly contributed to strengthening freedom of expression and to fight impunity for crimes committed against journalists on the African continent.
One of such landmark decisions occurred in 2015, when the African Court ordered the reopening of the investigation of Burkinabe investigative journalist Norbert Zongo, whose body was found badly burned in a car in 1998, along with the bodies of three colleagues. Zongo worked for I'Indépendant and was investigating the killing of the driver of a member of the President's family at the time of his murder. A commission to investigate the crime was established by the President and was able to identified the suspects. Yet only one of the five was charged and the charges were subsequently dropped. In 2006, the case was closed for lack of evidence, until the African Court reordered to open it.
Since 2017, UNESCO and the African Court have been working together to promote freedom of expression and safety of journalists in the African continent. Through these efforts, more than 1,800 judicial actors in Africa have been trained on these issues, and in 2018, the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further strengthen their cooperation.
Dr Sègnonna Horace Adjolohoun is a human rights lawyer and constitutional law expert from Benin, with a passion for human rights justice. He currently works as Principal Legal Officer at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. Prior to joining the Court, he was Senior Legal Expert and Team Leader on a project with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
