Details
- Comprehensive and accessible overview of human rights protection in Africa, including analysis of all relevant international, regional, and national human rights organisations and instruments
- Analyses the complex issue of the interaction between national and supranational legal regimes
- Examines the challenges raised by modern post-colonial statehood, national identity, and poverty
This book provides a comprehensive and analytical overview of human rights law in Africa. It examines the institutions, norms, and processes for human rights realization provided for under the United Nations system, the African Union, and sub-regional economic communitites in Africa, and explores their relationship with the national legal systems of African states.
Since the establishment of the African Union in 2001, there has been a proliferation of regional institutions that are relevant to human rights in Africa. These include the Pan African Parliament, the Peace and Security Council, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council and the African Peer Review Mechanism of the New Partnership for Africa's Development. This book discusses the links between these institutions. It further examines the case law stemming from Africa' most important human rights instrument, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, which entered into force on 21 October 1986. This new edition contains a new chapter on the African Children's Rights Committee as well as full coverage of new developments and instruments, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
Three cross-cutting themes are explored throughout the book: national implementation and enforcement of international human rights law; legal and other forms of integration; and the role of human rights in the eradication of poverty. The book also provides an introduction to the relevant human rights concepts.
Readership: (Post-graduate) students of international human rights law, particularly those with an interest in Africa or based on the African continent; scholars of international human rights law; practitioners and policy-makers working in this area
Part I - Background
1: An Introduction to International Human Rights Law
Part II - The Global Level
2: The Role of United Nations Organs and Agencies in Realizing Human Rights in Africa
3: The United Nations Treaty-Based Human Rights System and Africa
Part III - The Regional Level
4: The African Regional Architecture and Human Rights
5: Substantive Human Rights Norms in the African Regional System
6: The African Commission: An Introduction and Assessment
7: The African Commission: Protective Mandate
8: The African Commission: Promotional Mandate
9: The African Children's Rights Committee
10: The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights
Part IV - The Subregional Level
11: The Realization of Human Rights in Africa through Subregional Institutions
Part V - The National Level
12: Domestication of Human Rights Law
Part VI - Conclusion
13: Conclusion
Frans Viljoen, Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Review(s) from previous edition
"This book embodies the knowledge acquired by an eminent and well-respected African scholar and activist who has worked within the African human rights system for many... it does provide the uninitiated with a very comprehensive overview of human rights in Africa. The bibliography alone is a useful and comprehensive reference point. This volume therefore is highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to get a taste of the ways in which the various institutions, both African and otherwise, have considered human rights on the continent. - Human Rights Law Review (9)
