Defending Citizen Election Observer Rights in Africa: Pushing Back Against Closing Spaces and Administrative Hurdles
29 March 2023 09:00 - 11:30
Virtual Event | Organised by ESN-SA, E-HORN, WAEON, AfEONet, CCMG, NDI, OSF-Africa | Held in CAT in EnglishAdvancing respect for human rights
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Reflecting the global democratic decline, observer rights are under threat around the world and across Africa. In many countries, political space is closing and restrictive laws and regulations are being used to undermine the ability of citizen organizations to observe electoral processes. The development of independent, non-partisan citizen observer organizations in every region of the world is one of the most important democratic achievements of the past 40 years. Citizen observers across Africa are pushing back against this trend to promote more inclusive, accountable and transparent elections. Please join us for a discussion of the threats facing citizen election observer rights in Africa and how they are defending their right to observe elections.
Presenters
This event is sponsored by the Elections Support Network of Southern Africa (ESN-SA), East and Horn of Africa Observer Network (E-HORN), the West Africa Election Observer Network (WAEON) and the African Election Observer Network (AfEONet) with the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) of Zambia serving as the local host. This event is organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in partnership with and financial support from the Open Society Foundation – Africa (OSF-Africa).
The event will be held on March 29, 2023 from 9:00 am to 11:30 am (Central Africa time), in-person at the Neelkanth Sarovar Premiere Hotel in Lusaka and virtually.