The African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the future African Court of Justice and Human Rights: Comparative lessons from the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

This article focuses on two regional human rights systems — the system that exists in Africa and the mechanism that exists within the Council of Europe. It examines the development and specifics of each system to determine what lessons the African Commission and the future African Court of Justice and Human Rights can learn from the European model and its Court of Human Rights. The article also examines what can be learnt from the role of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the role of the present human rights court: the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of each system and the challenges that exist for each. The article also examines the experience of the European Commission, which is no longer in existence, in addition to European Court on Human Rights, which has taken over the functions of the Commission, to determine what can be drawn from their experiences. Issues examined include the institutional strengths and weaknesses of these bodies, state compliance with the decisions of the human rights institutions and the resources available to these bodies.