Senegal

The National Advisory Council on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CCNDH-DIH) is Senegal's standing national mechanism, comprising representatives from the Prime Minister's Office, ministries, the Parliament, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the National Agency for Statistics and Demography, and civil society (observers).

INSTITUTIONAL SETUP

The "Conseil Consultatif National des droits humains et du droit humanitaire (CCNDH-DIH) is Senegal's standing national mechanism. It was reformed through Presidential Decree No. 2018-1969 of 15 November 2018.

Composition The Ministries / state entities involved in the work of the national mechanism and/or in the preparation of reports to human rights mechanisms are:

• Prime Minister's Office
• Ministry of Justice (Chair and secretariat with Minister of Justice as chair and Secretary-General of the Ministry of Justice as Vice-Chair)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad
• Ministry of the Interior
• Ministry of National Education
• Ministry of Health and Social Action, Family,
• Other sectoral ministries. The mechanism includes focal points established under Article 33, paragraph 1, of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The national mechanism's functioning is supported by four Commissions: the Commission on Civil and Political Rights, the Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Commission on International Humanitarian Law, and the Commission on Rights relating to the Environment, Solidarity, Development, and Peace.

The composition, procedures for establishment, and functioning of these commissions are determined by an order of the Minister of Justice.

All ministries, including the Prime Minister’s Office, have their primary and alternate focal points, as well as the National Human Rights Commission, Parliament, civil society, the judiciary, and certain specialized bodies such as the National Agency for Statistics and Demography. They are designated by order of the Minister of Justice after being chosen within their originating structure based on their competence in the area indicated in the referral letter for designation issued by the Minister of Justice.

The mechanism has a dedicated budget prepared by the Permanent Secretary under the authority of the Minister of Justice.

Methods of work According to article 7 of the decree, the national mechanism meets in an ordinary session once a month and in extraordinary sessions upon convocation by its President. In practice, meetings are often organized, however not at the frequency required by the decree. The reason is, first, that even though the government has made efforts in recent years, the budget remains insufficient to allow for the regular holding of meetings. Second, the Senegalese NMIRF does not have dedicated administrative staff. It relies, for the organization of its activities, on the staff of the Directorate of Human Rights. When it organizes a meeting, all the focal points participate.

Secretariat The National Advisory Council (Conseil Consultatif National) is supported by the Human Rights Directorate of the Ministry of Justice.

Institutional memory and training The national mechanism does not have a specific system in place on institutional memory. It has requested support including to OHCHR to improve it. Trainings are regularly provided to members of the NMIRF including on reporting guidelines.

MANDATE

The mandate of the National Consultative Council includes: • Preparing initial and periodic reports intended for international and regional human rights bodies and other government documents on human rights.

• Follow-up on the implementation of the recommendations of the above mentioned bodies.

• Ensuring conformity of national legislation with the international and regional human rights and international humanitarian law instruments ratified by Senegal.

• Advising the government on matters relating to the respect and promotion of human rights.

The mandate of the CCNDH-DIH extends to the engagement with:

• UN special procedures
• UN treaty bodies
• Universal Periodic Review
• Regional human rights mechanisms

Process for the preparation of state reports

For the preparation of reports, replies to lists of issues prior to reporting, lists of issues, State reports for the Universal Periodic Review, etc., and/or responding to requests from the United Nations human rights mechanisms, the process is as follows:

• the Minister of Justice, in his capacity as President of the NMIRF, contacts his fellow ministers and all other stakeholders to transmit to him the official and credible information relating to the issues raised.
• After receiving this information, the Council meets in workshops as often as necessary to draft the report. The drafting of reports always entails the establishment of working groups, particularly thematic ones, to ensure better quality documents.
• Regarding data validation, Senegal has no difficulty in this respect, as their collection goes through the official channel indicated above. Since the National Human Rights Commission and civil society have observer status in the NMIRF, they participate throughout the process and not only at the time of validation.

Regarding the timely submission of reports, the NMIRF’s Permanent Secretary is in regular contact with the OHCHR Regional Office, which often alerts the national mechanism about deadlines if it does not have access to the information in real time. It also often consults the OHCHR website to collect useful information on these matters.

COORDINATION

Coordination takes place throughout the reporting cycle with the members of the national mechanism.

Linkages with the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals The work of the CCNDH-DIH is linked to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in that it develops a national action plan for the implementation of all international and regional recommendations in the field of human rights and IHL, and among these, some concern the issue of sustainable development. Senegal is also in the process of drafting its national action plan for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and this plan addresses the issue of sustainable development. The SDG coordination mechanism is however neither a member nor an observer of the NMIRF.

Channel of communication with the National Statistics Office By virtue of Article 3 of the decree establishing the CCNDH-DIH, it works in coordination with, among other structures, the National Agency for Statistics and Demography. This agency provides us, when needed, with official statistics on the issues addressed.

Channel of communication with the Parliament The CCNDH-DIH interacts with Parliament. This interaction generally takes place during the validation of reports but also when it comes to advocacy for the adoption or reform of a law. Parliament also sometimes requests information from the Council in the framework of its missions.

This interaction is developing more and more with the current legislature, which seems to be more interested than previous ones which, despite invitations from the NMIRF to its activities, were not often present.

Today, for example, Parliament is a member of the National Drafting Committee of the national action plan for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, a process that had nonetheless been followed by the former Chair of the Legal Committee.

Channel of communication with the Judiciary The judiciary, whenever needed, provides the NMIRF with information and data for the preparation of reports. It also participates in the Mechanism’s activities when invited.

The NMIRF, as part of its mandate, also very often trains judges and lawyers in international human rights law, as in 2024 and 2025 when it organized 3 sessions which enabled it to reach magistrates from the jurisdictions of the 6 courts of appeal in Senegal on the applicability of international human rights law at the domestic level.

CONSULTATION

Civil society actors who have an observer status in the NMIRF are consulted throughout the process. Same for the National Human Rights Institution and the National Preventive Mechanism.

The national mechanism uses mails and official transmission letters for documents to ensure follow-up. It neither has a tracking application nor a dedicated database.

Senegal is in the process of drafting its new national action plan for the implementation of international and regional human rights recommendations (UPR, treaty bodies, special procedures, African mechanisms). This plan is expected to be validated by December 2025.

Direction des droits humains (Human Rights Directorate), Ministry of Justice