19/08/2026
Open Society in partnership with the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions - NANHRI, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is launching a conversation on “Reimagining the Future of Human Rights in Africa—Securing Gains, Centering Human Dignity, Shaping Futures."
Through the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Agenda 2063, Africa has placed human rights, democratic governance, justice, peace, inclusion and people driven development at the center of the continent’s long-term transformation.
However, democratic backsliding, conflicts, a shrinking civic space, growing inequality, resource competition and many other pressing issues paired with a growing anti-rights narrative, is affecting governments’ ability to fully fulfill human rights-based development.
These challenges also present an opportunity to reinforce public ownership of human rights as an African project rooted in dignity, solidarity, justice, equality, accountability, self-determination and the principles of the African Charter.
This conversation is not only about reimagining norms, frameworks, and movements. It’s about imagining a “New Africa” and “New Africans” with agency at home and abroad: Africans who own their development and assert themselves confidently as equals in global affairs.
These series of regional convenings will take place over the next few months in Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, and West and Central Africa. The convenings will bring together policymakers, human rights activists, grassroots organizations, marginalized communities, women’s and youth groups, and social movements to share their perspectives, ideas, and solutions on the future of human rights.
Building on the sub-regional consultations, we will host a continental convening at the end of the year that will consolidate regional perspectives, identify common structural challenges and opportunities, and develop an African-led vision for a human rights architecture capable of responding to evolving political, economic, social, environmental, and technological realities.
Join us and together let’s reimagine the future of human rights.