This report examines the records of the 13 African members of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) during 2018. Specifically, the report assesses the commitment of African countries to international human rights. It bases its assessment on African countries’ actions in two domains of the HRC’s work: country-specific human rights problems and civil and political rights. The report demonstrates that during 2018, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda had the strongest commitment to international human rights while Ethiopia, Egypt and Burundi were the African states that most strongly opposed human rights. It further shows the diversity of African positions – on none of the 34 votes discussed in the report did African states vote in unison. Although the overall picture is one of an unwillingness to defend international human rights, African states ranged from mild support for to strong opposition to international human rights.
