From 'puzzling' to comprehensible and efficient: Reform proposals to the African human rights framework through a 'system' lens

Abstract

Forty years after the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African architecture for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa has been enriched both at the normative and institutional levels. This enrichment has led in legal analyses both to the affirmation of the existence of an 'African human rights system', on the one hand and, on the other, to the criticism of an unnecessarily complex and not always efficient mechanism. After highlighting the specific logic of the emerging African system, this article indicates the avenues for institutional and methodological reform that should lead to the construction of a truly coherent, effective and efficient African human rights system.