The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa is a non-profit, non-governmental pan-African organization, based in The Gambia, West Africa. It was founded in 1997 by two human rights lawyers who had previously worked for the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.



They identified that the most imminent challenge impeding the effectiveness of the African human rights system was a lack of awareness concerning its procedures. Therefore, the Institute’s mandate is to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of the human rights protection mechanisms of the African Union, especially the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights-by strengthening the human rights institutions in Africa, ensuring compliance with the existing norms and making the system widely accessible to victims of human rights violations and other actors of civil society.



To execute our mandate, the Institute uses its particular expertise in the international and African human rights law to:



Train NGOs community and other human rights activists and workers in how to investigate, prepare and present cases of human rights violations before the African human rights treaty bodies;



Serve as pro bono counsel for individuals and NGOs litigating their cases against State parties before the African human rights treaty bodies;



Research emerging areas of human rights law and development in Africa for publication and dissemination;



Network and collaborate with other human rights NGOs and African human rights treaty bodies for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa;



Advocate for legal reforms in the areas of human rights and development policies at the national and regional levels in Africa.