Clément Nyaletsossi Voule

Clément Nyaletsossi Voule is a former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association from 2018 to April 2024.

He was an Expert Member of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights from 2011 to 2020.

He was Advocacy Director for Africa at the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), where he also led the organisation program to support human rights defenders working in States in transition. He served as Secretary-general of Amnesty International Togo (2000 – 2006).

As an expert member of the African commission, he has coordinated and participated in the elaboration of several studies and guidelines, including two studies on freedom of association and the situation of women Human Rights Defenders in Africa and the guidelines on the rights of Freedom of Association and Assembly of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

A long-time activist and jurist with over 30 years of experience, Mr. Voule has supported State and civil society efforts to develop and adopt specific laws for the protection of human right defenders and contributed to the publication of the Model law for the recognition and protection of human rights defenders and a human rights defenders guide to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Over the years, he has advised a number of international, regional and national entities on human rights issues. Most notably, he has extensive experience engaging with the UN and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to strengthen their work protecting human rights defenders and fundamental freedoms.

During his tenure as UN special Rapporteur on the rights to Peaceful assembly and Association, he conducted 9 official country visits and presented reports to the UN human rights Council. He also drafted more that 15 thematic reports and guidelines focused on issues of peaceful assembly and association including the recent Model Protocol for Law Enforcement Officials to Promote and Protect Human Rights in the Context of Peaceful Protests

Mr. Voule has a Law degree from the University of Benin, Togo. He holds a Masters degree in Fundamental Rights from Nantes University in France, and a Masters Diploma in International Law in Armed Conflict from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

He is a senior researcher at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and vice-chair of INHR's Advisory Council