XV Edition GIZ Law Journal

AFRICAN UNION

AFRICAN UNION

Towards Enhanced Protection of Human and Peoples’ Rights Resilience of theAfricanHumanRights System:

1. Introduction The African Human Rights System is one of the three judicial or quasi judicial regional human rights systems. Like other regional human rights systems, such as the Inter-American Human Rights Systemand European Human Rights Bodies, the African system was established under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), established in 1963 and transformed into the African Union (AU) 35 in 2001. It includes mechanisms mandated to monitor, promote and protect human rights among AU Member States. The African Human Rights System includes a Commission and a Court with complementary mandates. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), the Africa Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), are all mandated to receive complaints of human rights violations and abuses. Although it is the newest compared to the Inter-American and European systems, the African Human Rights System is grounded in centuries long struggles for freedom, dignity, equality and social justice by African To enhance the engagement of citizens and human rights actors in the work of the AU Human Rights Organs, various platforms have been created and institutionalized over the years. These have included the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Forum, organized on the margins of the statutory Ordinary Sessions of ACHPR, which serves as a medium through which NGOs acquaint themselves with the Commission’s activities. The ACERWC also provides a platform for the active involvement of Civil society actors through the Civil Society Forum (CSO Forum), convened on the margins of the statutory ordinary sessions. The Committee leverages members of the civil society to support its role and ensuring the effective implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Whilst the AfCHPR continues to engage with human rights actors, including lawyers and media practitioners at all levels through judicial dialogues and trainings on the mandate of the Court. These actors continue to play a prominent role in the African Human Rights System, including drawing the attention of the human rights Organs to violations of human rights, bringing communications on behalf of individuals and monitor state’s compliance to the human rights principles and standards. Rizzan Nassuna

By: Rizzan Nassuna

As Africa continues to deal with the adverse effects that COVID-19 pandemic had on all spheres of life, the accelerated regression of the democratic fabric on the continent, on which protection and promotion of human rights depends, has become quite noticeable. The containment measures for COVID-19, including lockdowns and restrictions on movements, provided a conducive environment for some African governments to further crackdown on dissent, curtail people’s rights and enact emergency laws that are likely to have long-term implications, beyond the pandemic crisis. Such governments’ actions and/or inactions have presented an unprecedented strain on the work of human rights actors at all levels, including the African Human Rights System. However, due to the agile nature of the mandates of the African Union (AU) Human Rights Organs, the African Human Rights System has been able to register commendable progress towards the protection and promotion of human and peoples’ rights during the health crisis. Notably response measures such as the adoption of a Guiding Note to AU Member States on COVID-19 and its implication on children’s rights and welfare by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); and several resolutions adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) provided the much-needed guidance to African countries toward the protection and promotion of human and peoples’ rights during and after the pandemic. Furthermore, the ongoing AU institutional reform processes have presented an unprecedented opportunity for the African Human Rights System to reflect on the work of the AU Human Rights Organs in abide to improve their ability to deliver efficiently and effectively on their mandates. Human rights remain one of the AU top priorities given that by nature they are continental in scope. To give effect to this priority, ACHPR is mandated to promote and protect human rights, while the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) is mandated to complement and reinforce the protection mandate of the Commission. However, the normative instruments establishing both ACHPR and AfCHPR do not provide a clear understanding of what precisely the roles of the two Organs should be in the complementary relationship, which has often resulted in ambiguities in the execution of their respective mandates. As such, to fast track the mainstreaming of the mandates of the AU Human Rights Organs, ACHPR and AfCHPR are undertaking efforts aimed at strengthening complementarity between their respective mandates. This includes the adoption of a roadmap with practical steps for implementing complementarity between the two Organs, in addition to developing a framework delineating the roles of ACHPR and AfCHPR.

35 The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 Member States that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999), operationalized by the Constitutive Act of the AU adopted in July 2000 and came into force in May 2001.

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