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Circumventing obstacles to the implementation of recommendations by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

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The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was inaugurated
on 2 November 1987, with a mandate to promote and protect human
rights in Africa. The commemoration of its thirtieth anniversary in 2017
presented another appropriate opportunity to revisit the long-standing
debate on its quasi-judicial character, the status of its recommendations
and its (in)ability to effectively monitor states’ compliance. This article
assesses the challenges associated with the Commission’s seemingly ‘nonbinding’
recommendations and the perceived effect on its mandate, and
proposes two solutions for their circumvention. First, the article suggests
that if non-compliance is taken broadly as a sustained infraction of states’
obligations under article 1 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights and allied instruments, the Commission’s recommendations can be
elevated to binding African Union decisions that subsequently become
enforceable under article 23(2) of the AU Constitutive Act. Second, it is
proposed that where a state against which a violation has been found
fails to comply with the Commission’s recommendations, the latter may institute an
action before the African Court under article 5 of the Protocol Establishing
the African Court against that state for non-compliance with its
obligations under the Charter.

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Language
English
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Subject(s)
Human Rights
African Union
Implementation
Compliance
Quasi-judicial
Non-binding
African Commission
African Court
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Article
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