Serious or Massive Violations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: A Comparison with the Inter-American and European Mechanisms

Abstract

Fifty years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the world is still witnessing violations of human rights, occurring not always as an isolated incident in relation to a particular victim, but very often as part of a general situation of oppression in a specific country. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 1 is unusual when compared with the other two regional mechanisms, in providing expressly for a mechanism to deal with ‘a series of serious or massive violations’ of rights, but not, at first glance, a procedure for violations which do not fall within this category. The aim of this article is to consider what is meant by ‘serious or massive violations’, how the African Commission has interpreted this provision and whether assistance can be gained from the jurisprudence on similar matters of the Inter-American and European organs. The article will also consider the procedures adopted by the African Commission in dealing with such violations and examine the extent to which they have been successful, comparing them with the methods adopted by the other regional bodies.