Abstract
This article examines and summarizes the normative and institutional mechanisms within the African human rights system. The article identifies some of the challenges facing the young human rights system in Africa such as lack of proper coordination, avoidable overlaps and duplication of functions, as well as limited capacity of, and limited access to, the various human rights protecting institutions. Against the backdrop of proliferation of human rights treaties and bodies on the African continent under the guise of creating binding instruments and judicial human rights bodies, the article argues that international human rights law has grown beyond the “hard law” versus “soft law” debate where only legally binding treaties and judgments of judicial tribunals alone create legal obligations for states; and that the solution to the protection of human rights in Africa has little to do with the number or nomenclature of the protection mechanisms but rather their effectiveness. This article is significant in view of the proliferation of human rights instruments and protection mechanisms in Africa and the challenge posed to the effectiveness of the mechanisms as a result of poor coordination and overlap of functions.
Highlights
Against the backdrop of proliferation of human rights treaties and bodies on the African continent under the guise of creating binding instruments and judicial human rights bodies, the article argues that international human rights law has grown beyond the “hard law” versus “soft law” debate where only legally binding treaties and judgments of judicial tribunals alone create legal obligations for states; and that the solution to the protection of human rights in Africa has little to do with the number or nomenclature of the protection mechanisms but rather their effectiveness
This article is significant in view of the proliferation of human rights instruments and protection mechanisms in Africa and the challenge posed to the effectiveness of the mechanisms as a result of poor coordination and overlap of functions
There are many of these technically “non-binding” human rights instruments in Africa, and they constitute an integral component of the African human rights system
Summary
The desire to promote regional cooperation and decolonization in Africa prompted African elites to establish the Organization of African Unity in 1963. One notable achievement of the OAU is the political liberation and decolonization of African states (Maluwa, 2007) These failings together with the reality of globalization led to call for the amendment of the OAU Charter. While the normative system consists of treaties and soft law standards, the institutional component comprises mechanisms for monitoring and supervising state’s implementation of human rights treaties and standards. These mechanisms comprise independent expert committees as well as quasi-judicial and fully-fledged judicial institutions established by state parties to monitor and promote states’ implementation of human rights treaty standards, and to provide redress for individuals whose rights under the treaties are violated by their states
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