Some Thoughts on Challenges Facing the International Protection of Human Rights in Africa
| Author | Christof Heyns |
| Date | 01 December 2009 |
| Published date | 01 December 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410902700401 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 27/4, 447–450, 2009.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 447
COLUMN
sOMe THOuGHTs On CHallenGes faCInG
THe InTeRnaTIOnal PROTeCTIOn
Of HuMan RIGHTs In afRICa
C H*
In the proces s of working towards the realisation of human r ights in Africa, it is
sometimes important to pause for a moment to try to identify the challenges as clearly
as possible in order to be able to face them head on.
For example, it is probably wise to recognise that, w hile much progress has been
made in t he last few years i n terms of the forma l recognition of human rights in the
legal systems of Africa, on the domestic and t he regional level, in many respects law –
including human rights law – still plays a limited role on the continent. is is the case
in many of the conti nent’s armed conicts, wh ich are tak ing place be yond eective
legal scrutiny, but also in communities where neither formal legal proceedings nor the
idea of international monitoring are part of the ordina ry way in which people have
been sociali sed to address problems and to solve d isputes. Clearly hopes for progress
in respect of the realisation of human rights should not be pinned on the law only, but
also on educational and ot her initiatives.
In thi s context it is not surprising for example, that the African Comm ission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights conti nues to attract only a minute number of cases per
year, compared to the other regiona l systems, and in respect of some of the c ountries
with the worst human r ights records, no cases are brought.
e idea of a c ontinental Africa n human rights court – meant to ‘give teet h’ to
the Comm ission – is a lso taking much longer to realise than originally anticipated,
possibly a lso reecting the same unease about such an institution which led to the
exclusion of a c ourt as part of the supervisor y machinery when the African Charter
system was e stablished 30 years ago. Moreover, it remai ns an open question how t he
decisions of the court – that can potentially deal not only w ith explosive political
* Professor of Huma n Rights Law a nd Dean, Facult y of Law, University of P retoria, Pretoria ,
South Africa . S ome of the idea s ex pressed here are further develope d by Chr istof Heyns and
Magnus Killander in a chapter entitle d ‘Towards mi nimum sta ndards for regional human rig hts
mechanisms’, to be publ ished in: Arsanjani, Mahnoush H. , Katz C ogan, Jacob, Sloane, Rober t D.
and Wies sner, Siegfried (eds), Looking to the Future: Essay s on Inter national L aw in Honor of W.
Michael Reism an (forthcoming in 2010).
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