Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the African Charter

Abstract

This chapter explores the jurisprudence of the African Commission on ESC rights stemming from the adoption of the African Charter and its entry into force on 21 October 1986. The African Charter is widely known as the first international human rights treaty to protect the three 'generations' of human rights: civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights; and group and peoples' rights in a single instrument, without drawing any distinction between the justiciability or implementation of the three 'generations' of rights. The Commission has made a generous and progressive interpretation of the African Charter which confirms that ESC rights are justiciable, subject only to restricted limitations and non-derogable during emergency situations. It is clear from the Commission's decisions that States are obliged to 'respect, protect, promote and fulfill' all ESC rights explicitly protected in the Charter and those implied in the Charter. Keywords:African Charter; African Commission; civil rights; ESC rights; jurisprudence; political rights