Observatory

ABOUT THE OBSERVATORY

In recent years, Equatorial Guinea has been evaluated by the Human Rights Council and the Human Rights Committee. In addition, it has reactivated the request to participate in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

On the other hand, as a result of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, the government has signed the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

Finally, the state has globally committed to the Sustainable Development Goals.

The main objective of the APROFORT Observatory is to help monitor compliance with these commitments.

Human Rights

The Human Rights Council publishes its recommendations to Equatorial Guinea during the Universal Periodic Review, many of them suggested by civil society organisations such as the Center for Studies on Initiatives for the Development of Equatorial Guinea (CEID), already provides a clear baseline for this action, in order to monitor the evolution of respect for human rights in the country. In addition, the work of civil society will be crucial in monitoring and complying with the Observations of the Human Rights Committee that examined Equatorial Guinea in July 2019.

APROFORT will develop a human rights’ monitoring process based on these commitments. The observatory will establish an exhaustive registry of cases of human rights violations in the country to respond to the need for data for these reports.

The observatory will also work to obtain updated information on legislative developments in the field of human rights.

We will compile the commitments acquired by Equatorial Guinea; applicable international legislation and national legislation that will be updated regularly. The database will also include the cases reported at the legal clinic, on the one hand, and others that, although not managed by the legal clinic, are considered sufficiently proven by reliable sources. In any case, the source of the cases will be determined.

The Observatory will monitor in such a way that evaluation will take into account the practice (in-practice) and what is the existing legislation (in-law), including international treaties.

Good Governance

The Government of Equatorial Guinea has signed an economic reform program with the International Monetary Fund. These reforms are aimed at improving the country’s governance and fight against corruption. The program has a total duration of 3 years. However, the payment structure is sequenced bases on the fulfilment of intermediate milestones. Thus, commitments are reviewed every quarter starting from January 2020. APROFORT will monitor the level of compliance with this program, which includes commitments such as the public officials’ assets declaration. As a verification method, the monitoring will be carried out based on the information published in official media or by the International Monetary Fund. The methodological basis, therefore, is the transparency of the parties in providing information to the public, which is a basic principle of good governance. The results of the observatory will be useful for the drafting of reports by civil society for the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, or to report on progress in the country’s accession process to the Transparency Initiative for Extractive Industries (EITI).