African Journal of Legal Studies Pub Date : 2018-09-16 , DOI: 10.1163/17087384-12340032 Allwell Uwazuruike 1
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights ushered in an era of human rights promotion and protection at the regional level. However, the African Commission, created for this purpose, continues to face challenges especially with regard to the protection of human rights. This article critically examines one of the core obstacles to the effective operation of the Commission’s protective mandate – the binding nature of its recommendations – and formulates a proposal for bypassing that obstacle. It argues for the strengthening of the Commission’s protective mandate through a distinct and unambivalent adoption of the Commission’s rulings as official decisions of the AU Assembly backed by the concomitant full sanctioning power of the latter. Such adoption, it is argued, must go beyond the current near ceremonious practice whereby the Assembly receives and ‘adopts’ the Commission’s Activity Reports and focus on the recommendations themselves. Adopting this new system, it is argued, will strengthen and add meaning to the Commission’s protective mandate and further project the status of human rights across the continent.
中文翻译:
关于有效执行非洲人权和人民权利委员会保护任务的提案
《非洲人权和人民权利宪章》开创了在区域一级促进和保护人权的时代。但是,为此目的成立的非洲委员会继续面临挑战,特别是在保护人权方面。本文认真地研究了有效执行委员会保护性任务的主要障碍之一,即其建议的约束性,并提出了绕过该障碍的提案。它主张通过明确和毫不含糊地通过委员会的裁定作为非盟大会的正式决定,并辅以后者的充分制裁权,来加强委员会的保护性任务。有人认为这样的采用,必须超越大会目前接受和“通过”委员会活动报告并着重于建议本身的近乎礼节性的做法。有人认为,采用这一新制度将加强委员会的保护性任务并为其增添意义,并进一步预测整个非洲大陆的人权状况。