Domestic Implementation of International Human Rights Obligations in Africa

INTRODUCTION Where human rights violations occur due to extraterritorial action or inaction, regional or even global human rights supervisory bodies could become the main forums to which victims of human rights violations turn in order to obtain appropriate remedies. Hence, African regional mechanisms could offer a framework within which to hold the foreign perpetrator responsible for the transboundary violations of rights of residents of third states. In fact, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) – the supervisory body of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 1981 (African Charter), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa of 2003 (African Women's Protocol), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa of 2016 – has long received complaints involving the extraterritorial reach of states’ human rights obligations. There are discernible trends in the jurisprudence of the African regional system regarding the extraterritorial scope of African Charter guarantees, states’ human rights duties, and the right of individuals and groups to seek and enforce extraterritorial remedies. In a sense, quasi-judicial scrutiny of the extraterritorial reach of human rights and states’ duties has leapfrogged related scholarship. This chapter analyses the concept of extraterritoriality in the field of African human rights law in particular and human rights law in general. The chapter first provides an overview on human rights in Africa (their recognition and relevance). This is followed by a consideration of the extent to which extraterritorial state obligations have been recognised in African regional human rights law. This is discussed in the context of the burgeoning case law of the global and other regional human rights supervisory bodies (sections 5 and 6 below), which provide inspirational sources that the African regional system should draw upon. The recognition of extraterritorial state obligations in international human rights law (with specific focus on the United Nations (UN) system) and other regional human rights law (with specific focus, albeit briefly, on the European and Inter-American systems) provides the context within which the extraterritorial reach of African human rights treaties should be further understood.

Human rights queryfalse are typically presented in terms of entitlements, correlative duties, claims, “trumps,” and remedies. 1 These framings, which draw principally on law and philosophy, emphasi...

This study investigates the crucial role of international human rights courts in advancing accountability for human rights abuses. Its primary objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of these tribunals in holding accountable those — individuals, states, and non-state actors are to blame for major human rights violations. As part of the research methodology, relevant literature, case studies, and legal decisions from international human rights tribunals are thoroughly examined. The International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice, and local human rights courts are all part of this. The scope of the investigation includes War crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, torture, and enforced disappearances. The findings underscore the substantial contribution made by international human rights courts in ensuring justice, truth-seeking, and redress for victims of human rights abuses. These tribunals have played a pivotal role in establishing legal precedents, clarifying the extent of human rights obligations, and fostering international cooperation to address impunity. The study also explores the challenges confronted by international human rights courts, including limited jurisdiction, enforcement capacity, and political opposition. Additionally, it examines potential synergies between international tribunals and national justice systems to strengthen accountability mechanisms at both the international and domestic levels. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers, individuals who advocate for human rights, and those who work in the legal field because they highlight the importance of a powerful and independent international human rights court in promoting accountability and providing justice for victims of human rights violations all over the world.

The Nuremberg tribunal was the expression and the beginning of states' recognition of their duty to prosecute genocide and other gross human rights violations. It was a first step towards fulfillin...

Economic Sanctions Against Human Rights Violations

Could Domestic Courts Enforce International Human Rights Norms? An Empirical Study of the Indian Supreme Court Since 1997

The intersection of International Human Rights Law and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) highlights a critical dimension of globalization that affects global business practices and human rights protections. As multinational corporations expand their operations across borders, the impact of their activities on human rights becomes increasingly significant. Ensuring that FDI respects and upholds international human rights standards is crucial for fostering ethical and sustainable development. Economic globalization refers to the increasing integration and interdependence of national economies through the cross-border exchange of goods, services, information, and capital. FDI plays a central role in this process as a critical mechanism for international capital flow. FDI occurs when a firm from one country establishes or expands business operations in another, influencing the host country's economic development, trade, and employment. FDI fosters economic growth by enhancing technology transfer, improving management practices, and increasing competition. However, it also raises concerns over potential labor exploitation, environmental degradation, and erosion of local industries. The relationship between FDI and globalization highlights the opportunities and challenges countries face as they become more interconnected in the global economy. Policymakers aim to balance attracting FDI while protecting domestic interests and promoting sustainable and inclusive growth. This paper examines the intersection of Foreign Direct Investment FDI and international human rights law, focusing on developing economies. It highlights the benefits of FDI in fostering economic growth, technology transfer, and employment while addressing concerns over labor exploitation and environmental degradation. The study explores how international legal frameworks, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, can help mitigate these risks, offering strategies for aligning FDI with human rights standards in developing countries. This study is significant as it provides insight into how developing countries can benefit from FDI without compromising their commitment to human rights protections, a critical balance in the era of economic globalization. This study will examine these problems with specific reference to the developing countries. 1) The influx of FDI either improves human rights standards or exacerbates human rights violations in developing economies. 2) International human rights standards legally bind MNCs, who are held accountable when violations occur in host countries. 3) Economic globalization has facilitated stronger human rights protections but also created challenges for enforcement in developing countries. 4) Institutions like the IMF and World Bank ensure that their policies promote FDI while respecting human rights standards, and these measures are adequate to varying degrees. 5) Developing countries can adopt specific strategies or legal frameworks to ensure that FDI aligns with human rights obligations. 6) Current international legal instruments, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, are adequate in addressing human rights violations linked to FDI.

Are international human rights treaties associated with better rights performance? The appetite for a conclusive answer has driven a number of large scale quantitative studies that have broadly shown little or no effect, and sometimes even a backsliding. However, the headline conclusions belie much more complicated findings, and the research methods used are controversial. These issues undermine confidence in the findings. Comparative and individual case studies allow for more detailed information about how domestic human rights activists use international human rights laws in practice. They tend to be more positive about the effect of treaties, but they are not as systematic as the quantitative work. Some indirect measures of treaty effect show that the norms contained within them filter down into domestic constitutions, and that the process of human rights reporting at the UN may be useful if dialogue can be considered an a priori good. It is likely that states are driven to comply with human rights obligations through a combination of dynamic influences. Drivers of compliance with international law is a major, unresolved question in the research that is heavily influenced by the worldview of researchers. The two strongest findings are: Domestic context drives compliance. In particular: (1) The strength of domestic non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and links with international NGOs (INGOs), and (2) in partial and transitioning democracies where locals have a reason to use the treaties as tools to press their claims. External enforcement may help drive compliance when: (1) other states link human rights obligations in the treaties to preferential trade agreements, and (2) INGOs ‘name and shame’ human rights violations, possibly reducing inward investment flows from companies worried about their reputation. Scholars also identify intermediate effects of continued dialogue and norm socialisation from the UN’s human rights reporting processes. Interviews with diplomats involved in UN reporting say that the process is more effective when NGOs and individual governments are involved.

Effective protection of fundamental human rights is one of the main features of a modern democratic state governed by the rule of law. Non-governmental human rights institutions are an important component of the international human rights protection mechanism, as they operate at the local, regional, national and international levels. The relevance of the study is due to several factors, including: increased attention to human rights in the international legal system, increasing cases of human rights violations in the world, and the lack of effectiveness of national human rights mechanisms. Among other things, the Russian-Ukrainian war is of particular relevance, as the level of human rights violations in the conflict zone is extremely high. In view of this, a comprehensive study of the role of international non-governmental organisations in international human rights mechanisms is clearly relevant. The aim of the work is defining the role of non-governmental organisations in the international human rights protection mechanism and determining the forms of participation of international non-governmental organisations in the protection of human rights at the international level. The methodological basis of the study. In order to achieve this goal, an integrated approach is applied, which determines the use of general and special scientific research methods. In particular, the functional method was used to determine the functions of international non-governmental organisations in the field of human rights protection. The formal legal method was used to analyse the provisions of international legal acts. The systemic-structural method was used to identify the main features of the participation of international non-governmental organisations in the mechanism of human rights protection at the international level. The methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and analogy were also used to formulate conclusions and proposals. Results. The article examines the role of international non-governmental organisations in the international human rights mechanism. The study covers the results of the activities of international non-governmental organisations Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Human Rights First, Interights and other non- governmental organisations that draw the attention of citizens and governments around the world to human rights violations. It is noted that the activities of non-governmental organisations in addressing the issue of human rights protection are effective and have an important impact on the resolution of human rights violations. It is emphasised that the role of international non- governmental organisations is growing in the current context, as their activities have an impact on addressing human rights violations in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Chapter 4 focuses on human rights and environmental regulation of foreign investment. The environment and human rights are protected, in part, by the enactment or making and enforcement of environmental and human rights laws and policies. The African constitutions studied and the international human rights treaties and international environmental treaties to which African states are parties guarantee, recognise, and provide for the protection of fundamental human rights and the right to a healthy environment and impose corresponding obligations on African states to fulfil these rights. This chapter also analyses arbitral cases challenging environmental and human rights protection measures in order to assess how investment treaties restrict or might constrain the adoption of measures aimed at protecting the environment and human rights in Africa. It argues that African states’ duties to protect the environment and human rights emanate from national constitutions and international environmental and human rights treaties. Therefore, fundamental human rights and the right to a clean and safe environment and corresponding duties of African states place legal limitations on the standards of investment protection the states can undertake depending on their constraining effects on regulatory autonomy. It suggests that investment treaty terms must be made to be consistent with environmental and human rights obligations of African states.

Central Asian States’ Compliance with International Refugee and Human Rights Law Both China and Central Asian states are parties to the major international human rights instruments that demand protection of the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities as well as protection of refugees from persecution based on their ethnicity and religious and political views. This chapter explores how Central Asian states have been balancing their international human rights obligations towards Chinese Uyghur asylum seekers and their regional obligations under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism. The author finds that Central Asian states have continuously treated Chinese asylum seekers as a political matter and have given preference to their regional commitments towards China over their international human rights obligations, which has resulted in the absence of any real protection for Chinese asylum seekers in the region. This chapter argues that while Central Asian states may see compliance with human rights obligations to be politically inconvenient, only due compliance with international refugee and human rights law in good faith will benefit these states in the long run. In particular, a strictly legal approach to Chinese asylum seekers will help Central Asian states assert their sovereign equality and independence within the SCO and balance out China’s growing influence on their domestic policy.

The adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Protocol) was a significant initiative in the promotion of African regional human rights. This development, while signalling the intention to deal with human rights violations through a judicial process, acknowledged the failure of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission) to impact meaningfully on the development and maintenance of human rights in Africa. The failure arises from, inter alia, political horse trading and its resultant disregard of human rights. In the words of Jean-Paul Masseron, '[t]he leading statesmen of Africa have a tendency to sacrifice individual liberties in order to safeguard national independence'.

This article examines the relationship between international trade and the growth of human rights abuses. It offers dispute resolution, contract law, and a corporate social agreement to resolve these human rights issues. This article aims to present solutions to the growing human rights abuses in international trade because, throughout history, international trade has been a pillar in uniting societies, cultures, and peoples. With the growth of international trade, international trade law also grew. A key feature of the post-Modern era is the infusion of transnational corporations into every element of international society and culture. A direct result of this influence is a drastic rise in international human rights violations where individuals cannot find protection under international human rights laws or foreign domestic courts because such laws and courts do not have jurisdiction over transnational corporations, creating a perpetual cycle of human rights violations in international trade. This article presents a potential option to remedy these violations through alternative dispute resolution, contract law, and a corporate social agreement. This article employs qualitative and comparative research methodologies. The article includes an overview of historical and philosophical literature to establish how international trade and human rights development have consistently been connected. Additionally, the article analyzes international and state laws to delve into the gaps created by modern-day legal precedents to curtail human rights violations in international commercial trade. Through studying human rights violations within the context of international commercial trade and the existing, relevant international law, this article finds that a combination of alternative dispute resolution, contract law, and corporate social offers an innovative approach to resolving human rights issues faced by the international community. The significance of this article is to draw attention to the human rights violations occurring in the post-modern era due to international trade. Specifically, this article aims to present a workable solution to international human rights violations that can be implemented where international law fails to protect individuals in these situations.

Beyond Good and Evil: Toward a Solution of the Conflict between Corporate Profits and Human Rights

Private non-natural persons (such as companies) and even public legal entities (such as municipalities) are increasingly being recognized as subjects of criminal liability. Therefore, this contribution deals with three issues. First, can legal entities find protection under international fundamental human rights treaties (ICCPR, ECHR, ACHR, AfChHPR) when criminal law and criminal procedure are applied against them? Second, is it possible for individual stakeholders in these entities to invoke human rights protection, when the violation is in fact directed against the organization in which they have an interest? Yet, human rights are not just relevant as protections for legal persons: there is a growing awareness that they are responsible for human rights violations. So, third: do international human rights obligations require states to provide for the possibility that juristic entities may be held criminally responsible for such violations?