Compliance Studies and the African Human Rights System

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the compliance/implementation studies in the African human rights system, in which Frans Viljoen has a proven record of thought leadership. It begins by tracing the evolution of the African human rights system, looking at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR); the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR). The chapter then identifies five major trends in compliance/implementation studies. These include the increasing usage of empirical research; the seeming preference for in-depth case studies of particular cases or countries; the interrogation of unexamined truisms or assumptions; the redirecting of the analytical lens to sub-regional courts and tribunals; and the evaluation of the mechanisms of the regional bodies for monitoring compliance. The chapter argues for more energy to be channelled towards generating interdisciplinary research, a task that calls for greater involvement of non-lawyers in the enterprise of studying compliance and implementation in the African system. It also suggests that much more attention should be directed at understanding the broader impact of the decisions of regional bodies, that is, the indirect effects of the decisions at the domestic level such as changes in societal attitudes and public discourse.