On 25 November 2011 the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum delivered a joint statement on police and pretrial detention at the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights session in Banjul.

16 organisations contributed to, and signed up to the statement. In order to help address the challenges faced by Africa’s police forces in achieving a rights-based approach to policing and to minimise the drivers that promote the excessive use of police and pretrial detention, the Statement called upon the African Commission to adopt a set of measures and indicators to guide police agencies in their work, and serve as a template for state parties to report to the Commission and to conduct oversight visits.