Human Rights under the African Charter

Book excerpt: This book critically examines the civil, political, socioeconomic, and group rights protected under the African Charter and its Protocol on women’s rights. It then examines the institutional protection of these rights through the African Commission and African Court. The book builds on the concept of regionalism within Africa and the recent drive for finding “African solutions to African problems” by tracing the development of human rights within Africa and assessing the effectiveness of Africa’s core regional human rights institutions. In turn, it critically analyses the obstacles to the full implementation of human rights in Africa such as the lack of political will, jurisdictional issues, lack of resources and funding, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and customary practices that violate human rights. In closing, the book discusses possible solutions to these problems.