The fight for human rights in Africa : Défendre les droits humains en Afrique : points de vue sur la Commission africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples

This analysis will evaluate the effectiveness of the system, from the qualitative content of the Charter to the powers and limi- tations of the African Commission to guarantee respect for human rights, as set out by the Charter. [...] The greatest political expression of this desire was their participation in the non-aligned movement at the end of the 1960s; secondly, a failure to understand the political nature of the message the authors of the Charter were trying to convey, namely, that in the historical context, the Charter’s vocation could not be strictly legal (see its Preamble). [...] The Jurisdictions of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights Under Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the Additional Protocol to the Char- ter on the creation of the Court, the Court can receive communica- tions from individuals or from non-governmental organizations having observer status with the Commission, on condition that the state in question has previously recognized the Court’s jurisdic- ti [...] While the mandate of the African Commission is set out in detail in Article 45 of the African Charter, Article 2 of the Protocol on the relationship between the Commission and the Court does not set out any specific provision for the particular functions of each mechanism. [...] The African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) Promotion of Human Rights under the Charter The unique provisions of the African Charter outlined above can only be understood in the context created by the case history of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the African Commission”).