Protection of human and peoples' rights in the African Charter: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Human Rights are part and parcel of the Social, Cultural, political and Economic process in Africa. The general political climate in Africa is sad, in the sense that there is lack of true democratization process. The situations of political break-down and civil unrest in so many African states like Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Mozambique and many others, the question that is asked, in times of such situations is, where does the Individual lie? The development of International human rights has made it possible to advance human rights issues from national place to international plane hence the birth of international instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, African Charter on Human and People's Rights, etc. What prompted me to take up this topic is that, put into such a situation of poverty, lack of resources, recurrent droughts and violent conflicts that are common in Africa, what are the problems that have been encountered in the promotion and protection of Human Rights in the African Charter. I have greatly been attracted to this topic because there is little research that has been done, to investigate the problems and the prospects of the African Charter. However, note should be taken that his topic is not exhaustive and alot of examples will be derived in Zambia being itself a party to the Charter. Chapter One: Attempts to examine whether Africans can boast of having human rights notions in traditional setting itself before we move to contemporary-African in the development of human rights. The definition of human rights is forwarded so that we can develop a concept that will be used in this essay. Chapter Two: Forwards the historical background of the African Charter its development and how it can be compared to other International Human Rights Instruments. Chapter Three: Examines the problems that are encountered in the protection and promotion of human rights in the African Charter. This chapter examines areas, from Social, Culture, Political and Economic situation so that human rights can be put into proper framework. The African Charter itself is scrutinised. Chapter Four: After all is done, this research attempts to forward useful recommendations in the protection and promotion of Human Rights.