In Eswatini, six secondary school students were expelled over alleged same-sex relationships. Within days, they were back in class. The turnaround began when the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration stepped in — engaging the Ministry of Education, reaffirming the students' constitutional right to learn, and bringing parents, community members and decision-makers together to hear from the affected families. It was a striking example of how a quick, timely intervention combined with patient community engagement can turn a crisis into a lesson in justice.
That story was one of many shared in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 22 to 24 July 2026, when nine African human rights institutions gathered for a regional meeting hosted by UNDP's #WeBelongAfrica programme. The goal was simple: to stop treating inclusion as a separate box to tick, and instead weave it into everything these institutions do — from how complaints are received and investigated, to how evidence is collected, policy is shaped)Skip, communities are consulted)Skip and the public is sensitized.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) help people — especially those who are marginalized or left behind — access justice and protection. They strengthen complaint mechanisms, monitor human rights, improve data collection and inform public policy. But each institution works in its own context and faces its own challengesSkip, as UNDP's Flavian Rhode noted. "Each has also developed solutions tailored to its circumstances. Bringing them together provides an important opportunity to share these experiences,Skip he said.
The meeting wasn't about introducing new values. As participants pointed out, the principles of dignity, equality and fairness are already written into many African constitutions and regional human rights frameworks. The work is about giving those principles real effect for everyone — including people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics (often grouped as LGBTI+).
In Namibia, the Office of the Ombudsman noticed that fear of stigma kept people from reporting violations. So it introduced confidential reporting through email and SMS, sent mobile outreach teams to rural communities, schools and care facilities, and trained investigators to respond respectfully and in a trauma-informed way. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the National Human Rights Commission set up specialized teams to investigate arbitrary arrests, working with community organizations to follow cases through to resolution.
Reliable data matters too. In Côte d'Ivoire, the National Human Rights Council worked with government departments, researchers and UN partners to implement the LGBT Inclusion Index — a tool helping institutions understand the challenges LGBTI+ people face and find practical responses. "The Inclusion Index helped us understand the gaps in the inclusion of LGBTI+ populations," said Leonce Yapi Adon, Director of Programmes at the Council. Meanwhile, in several countries, intersex adults have shared their testimonies with parliamentarians, opening conversations about protecting intersex children.
As Lucy Bwalya Munthali of Zambia's Human Rights Commission put it: "Engaging directly with marginalized communities strengthens our ability to do that." By learning from one another, these institutions are proving that human rights, and their protection, can be made more accessible — one story, one school, one trusted channel at a time.