Introduction An Introduction to the Development of the African Regional Human Rights System:

Abstract

The African Charter is Africa's most important regional human rights instrument for the promotion and protection of human rights. 30 years after the adoption of the African Charter, there are still gross and consistent violations of human rights in several African States parties to the African Charter as noted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Commission) in its March 2011 resolutions on the 'human rights situation' in North Africa in particular in Algeria, Libyan Arab Jamahiliya and Tunisia. The central document of the African Human Rights system, was adopted by the eighteenth Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Several factors contributed to the adoption of the African Charter in June 1981 including the emphasis by the UN on the need for regional mechanisms to address regional human rights issues in Africa. Keywords:African Charter; African Commission; African Human Rights system; Libyan Arab Jamahiliya; North Africa; Organisation of African Unity (OAU)