African Human Rights Law in Theory and Practice

Abstract

It is sometimes argued that human rights have been imposed on the rest of the world by Western countries. To rebut this argument, the first part of this article considers the history of human rights discourse in Africa and its role in the struggle against colonialism. Since independence many regional human rights instruments have been adopted, often as a response to developments in the global arena. The second part of the article examines this regionalization of universal human rights norms and also takes note of unique features of the African normative human rights framework and areas where Africa has taken the lead in developing an international framework. The article explores to what extent the African Union (‘AU’) and its predecessor the Organization of African Unity (‘OAU’) have responded to African challenges in devising the African regional human rights system and how the often vague provisions of the main regional human rights treaty, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘ACHPR’ or ‘the Charter’), have been interpreted by the major regional human right body, the African Commission.The final part of this article considers challenges and innovations in regional monitoring of compliance with international human rights norms. The proliferation of various monitoring bodies is considered in the context of the lack of adequate response to human rights at the national level in African countries and the lack of political commitment at the regional level. Note is also taken of the fledgling developments at the sub-regional level.