Protection Of Human Rights In Africa Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Human Rights Protection in European Union and African Union Countries: An fsQCA Approach

This study contributes to the human rights protection literature by using Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) in the analysis of 76 cases composed of European Union and African Union countries. Results indicate that the ratification of treaties, establishment of human rights institutions, and high GDP per capita in the absence of rule of law, play crucial roles in the high rate of protection of human rights in Europe. In Africa, however, the low GDP per capita and absence of rule of law significantly weaken human rights protection. The analysis reveals that the establishment of human rights institutions is essential to protect human rights in Europe, while high GDP per capita and rule of law are paramount to improving human rights protection in Africa in relation to any institutional configuration, approach, or policy.

The settlement option: friend or foe to human rights protection in Africa?

ABSTRACT:
 The friendly settlement procedure has long existed in the Inter-American and the African human rights systems, yet over the past twenty years, it has become increasingly popular in the Inter-American system as a means to protect human rights and deliver remedies to victims. To date, over 150 settlements have been successfully negotiated at the level of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. The practice has differed, as has the impact of such settlements across the regions. Reports show that compliance with these agreements is generally better when compared to decisions on individual complaints. In contrast, the African system has rarely seen the amicable settlement option exercised successfully by the parties. This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the settlement option for the protection of human rights. The approach taken is an in-depth analysis of the procedure in both systems followed by a comparative analysis of the practice and its impact in the regions. In light of the practice in the Americas and Africa, the article interrogates and evaluates the overall utility of the settlement procedure and its potential for furthering human rights protection at the regional level, and in Africa specifically. This article finds that the settlement mechanism has numerous benefits for human rights protection if it is carried out according to established principles and clear criteria that seek to preserve the integrity of the procedure and the African human rights system more generally.
 
 TITRE ET RÉSUMÉ EN FRANCAIS:
 L’option de règlement: ami ou ennemi de la protection des droits de l’homme en Afrique?
 RÉSUMÉ:
 La procédure de règlement à l’amiable existe depuis longtemps dans les systèmes interaméricain et africain des droits de l’homme. Cependant, au cours des 20 dernières années, elle a de plus en plus été utilisée en tant que moyen de protection des droits de l’homme et des victimes dans le système interaméricain des droits de l’homme. À ce jour, plus de 150 règlements ont été négociés avec succès au niveau de la Commission interaméricaine des droits de l’homme. La pratique et l’impact de tels règlements à travers les régions diffèrent. Les rapports montrent que le respect de ces accords est généralement meilleur que celui des décisions relatives à des plaintes individuelles. En revanche, le système africain a rarement vu l’option de règlement à l’amiable être utilisée avec succès par les parties. Cet article décrit les avantages et les inconvénients de l’option de règlement pour la protection des droits de l’homme. L’approche adoptée consiste en une analyse approfondie de la procédure dans les deux systèmes, suivie d’une analyse comparative de la pratique et de son impact dans les systèmes régionaux. À la lumière de la pratique dans les Amériques et en Afrique, l’article examine et évalue l’utilité globale de la procédure de règlement et son potentiel pour renforcer la protection des droits de l’homme au niveau régional, et plus particulièrement en Afrique. L’article conclut que le mécanisme de règlement présente de nombreux avantages pour la protection des droits de l’homme s’il est mis en œuvre conformément à des principes établis et à des critères clairs visant à préserver l’intégrité de la procédure et du système africain des droits de l’homme plus généralement.

Are Africans States Willing to Ratify and Commit to Human Rights Treaties? The Example of the Maputo Protocol

This paper sheds light on factors affecting the ratification and commitment of African countries to treaties, to change and to improve their conduct according to the obligations present in those treaties. As a way of example, this work uses the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (“Maputo Protocol”), considered as the pillar of women’s human rights protection in Africa. This paper considers the effect of the breaches on the sovereign rights of African states to determine the content of their domestic law and if they have made any progress in the protection of women’s rights on the continent. I wonder that because there is significant concern as to how the Maputo Protocol can be implemented given that, for example, several rights in the Protocol clash with established cultural and national traditions. That is why many of the provisions contained in the Maputo Protocol are not currently achievable given also the present socio-economic conditions in many countries of the continent. In addition, the Maputo Protocol fails to recognise several rights, deemed particularly relevant for refugees in Africa, such as the right to a fair trial and the rights of convicted and detained women. When human rights norms are emerging, as it is the case with those contained in the Maputo Protocol, strong international legal commitment generates greater public support for compliance compared to weak commitment. Conversely, when a human rights norm is domesticated, stronger state commitment does not always generate greater public support compared to a weaker commitment. That is why the effort to promote the Maputo Protocol should be dine at a continental level and not leaving it to a single country or to a small group of them.

THE IMPACT OF THE DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY ON THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY

The subject of this article is the jurisprudence of the Court of the East African Community in cases related to the protection of human rights. The article examines in detail the jurisprudence, which, to some degree, influenced changes in legislation in some member states of the East African Community, and in some cases prevented further violations of human rights. The authors also raise the issue of the lack of jurisdiction of the East African Court to consider complaints related to human rights violations. The authors pay particular attention to the human rights situation in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, which has developed since the Court has passed decisions. The authors also raise the issue of the place and importance of the Court of the East African Community in the regional system of human rights protection in Africa, highlight the positive contribution of the Court to the human rights situation in the subregion. The article demonstrates the existence of complex, controversial problems, the further functioning of the court of the East African Community as a quasi-judicial body for the protection of human rights depends on the need to solve it. The solution to these problems depends to a large extent on whether member states can agree to sign a protocol that gives the Court jurisdiction to handle complaints related to human rights violations in the subregion

Anti-Terrorism and Human Rights Protection in Africa

This paper examines the conceptions of human rights and terrorism, and narrows these conceptions to the contestations that have characterized the African political landscape in recent times. It further situates African human rights system within the context of Africa’s historical realities in slave trade, colonialism and post-colonial governance conundrum. This thinking deconstructs the interconnections between anti-terrorism and human rights protection, and explains the ambivalence of peace and security in the continent. In reviewing the underlying scuffles grounding generations of human rights, especially the demarcations and/or dichotomy between civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, the paper insists on the granting of the latter. This is because while current Africa’s anti-terrorism mechanisms seemed to be influenced by the former, terrorism feeds on the non-justiciability of the latter to indoctrinate and recruit foot soldiers. Hence, it is recommended that Africa should strengthen its human rights regime to encapsulate economic, social and cultural rights as an effective preventive and responsive antiterrorism tool.

An Overview of the Constitutional Framework of the Right to Social Security with Special Reference to South Africa

Serious efforts to legally recognise and protect human rights in Africa came only with the constitutional reforms that started in the 1990s. Many of the resulting new or revised constitutions now contain provisions aimed at promoting democratic governance, constitutionalism, and respect for the rule of law and human rights. Although many recent studies and surveys show that there have been significant improvements in the quantum of human rights protection in Africa in the last two decades, not much of this research has looked at the specific issue of the right to social security. The aim of this paper is therefore to provide an overview of the position of the right to social security in African constitutions with special reference to the South African constitution and to see what impact this may have in promoting human rights protection. Although this is not generally acknowledged, the right to social security is a human right that is of as much social, economic and political importance as any of the other types of human rights. The paper will start by briefly looking at the conceptual and contextual framework of the right to social security in Africa. This section will examine the basic concept and definition of social security and consider why it is such an important issue in Africa today. The next section will provide an overview of the constitutional framework for recognising and protecting the right to social security in selected African constitutions. From this overview, it will be seen that South Africa has one of the most constitutionally entrenched frameworks for protecting the right of access to social security on the continent. The main lessons from the South African experience will therefore be considered. This will be followed by a consideration of what the prospects for advancing the right of access to social security rights in Africa are. By way of conclusion, it will be contended that constitutionalism, democracy, good governance and a strong

Lost in Transition? The Anatomy of the Merged African Court of Justice and Human Rights

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has been in transition for several years now. The locus of this transition has been an attempt to merge the Court with the African Court of Justice, created in 2003, into a single judicial institution. Established slightly over a decade ago by a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Court was finally elected in 2006, two years after its constitutive Protocol came into force. Three years later, it is yet to commence its operations. When and if it commences its work, it will only be for a transitional period since the African Union recently adopted a Protocol establishing a single Court, the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. While this is a significant development in establishing institutions to lever human rights protection in Africa, questions have been raised on procedural and substantive aspects of the merger, the speedy nature of the two courts’ transition into a single judicial institution and, more practically, whether the new Court will ‘finally’ ordain a transition into an effective system of human rights protection in Africa. This article compares the Protocol establishing the new African court with the 1998 Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Towards Effective Collective Security and Human Rights Protection in Africa: An Assessment of the Constitutive Act of the New African Union

At its fifth extraordinary summit held in Sitre, Libya on 2 March 2001, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government (AHSG) of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), representing all the 53 member states, ‘solemnly and proudly’ declared the establishment of the African Union (AU). Following the deposition, by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, of the 36th instrument of ratification with the OAU General Secretariat on 26 April 2001, the Constitutive Act (the Act) of the AU formally came into force on 26 May 2001, in conformity with its Article 28.