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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2021
In an article I wrote in the pages of this journal in 1976, I expressed considerable scepticism about the prospect of African governments drafting a human rights convention for Africa or establishing a regional human rights body similar to the European and Inter-American Commissions on Human Rights. Even though there had been calls for the creation of such a human rights mechanism as early as 1961, at the Lagos Conference on the Rule of Law, organized by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), I thought that the time did not yet “seem propitious for such a move.”
Laurie S. Wiseberg is the Executive Director of Human Rights Internet.
1. Wiseberg, Laurie S., “Human Rights in Africa: Toward the Definition of the Problem of a Double Standard,” Issue: A Quarterly Journal of Africanist Opinion, vol. VI, no. 4 (Winter 1976), pp. 3–13 at p. 9-10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Sock, Raymond, “The Case for an African Court of Human and Peoples Rights: From a Concept to a Draft Protocol over 33 years,” African Topics, vol. 1, no. 2 (March/April 1994), pp. 9–10, at p. 9.Google Scholar
3. Wiseberg, op.cit.
4. Statement by H. E. Mr Abdelaziz Shiddo, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Republic of the Sudan, commenting on the report of Dr. Gáspár Bíró Special Rapporteur on Human Rights situation in the Sudan under agenda item 12, Geneva, 25 February 1994, p. 1.
5. Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr Gáspár Bíró, Commission on Human Rights, 50th Session, E/CN.4/1994/48, 1 February 1994, 42 p. at p. 39.
6. The Fund for Peace, Conference on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, June 24-25, 1991, New York, NY, 1991, p. 10.
7. “Conclusions and Recommendations” in Report of the Workshop on NGO Participation in the Work of Commission, held in Banjul, The Gambia, 5-7 October 1991, under the auspices of the African Commission, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), p. 3. See also: Shadrack B.O. Gutto, Human and Peoples’ Rights for the Oppressed. Critical Essays on Theory and Practice from Sociology of Law Perspectives, Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press, 1993, p. 151.
8. Fund for Peace, op.cit., p. 12.
9. Amnesty International, Tunisia: Prolonged Incommunicado Detention and Torture, London, UK, March 1992, MDE 30/04/92, p. 33.Google Scholar
10. Trempe, Celine, “La Ligue Tunisienne des droits de l’homme Disparaitra-t-elle?” Human Rights Tribune Human Rights Internet, Ottawa, Canada, vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1992, p. 7.Google Scholar
11. Dr. Philip K. A. Amoah, “Freedom of Association in Relation to the Establishment and Role of Africa-Based Human Rights and Non-Governmental Organizations,” Second ICJ Workshop on NGO Participation in the Work of the African Commission on Human & Peoples’ Rights, Tunis, Tunisia, February 29-March 1, 1992 (preliminary draft), 11 p. at p. 8.
12. “Conclusions and Recommendation,” Workshop on NGO Participation . . ., op.cit., pp. 1-2.
13. “A Legal Victory for Women in Botswana,” Human Rights Tribune, vol. 1, no. 1 (Winter 1992), p. 14.
14. Apenteng, K. Gyan-, “NGO Workshop Sets the Pace at Addis Conference,” African Topics, Middlesex, UK, Issue 2, March/April 1994, p. 4.Google Scholar
15. Umozurike, U. O., “The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: An Introduction,” Review of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, vol. 1, 5–15, 1991, at 14.Google Scholar
16. These are published in African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Documentation, Banjul, The Gambia, no. 1 [1991], pp. 45-69.
17. Gaer, Felice D., “First Fruits: Reporting by States Under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights,” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, vol. 10, no. 1 (1992), pp. 29–41 at p. 31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Ibid., p. 33.
19. The review of the Ghana report at the 14th session took place over a two day period and was more extensive, perhaps because Ghana’s was the only report being considered at that session. Additionally, Commission members had received a copy of an alternative prepared by the non-governmental Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Ghanaian government report and excerpts from the NGO report, are reproduced in African Topics, Issue 2 March/April 1994, pp. 12-14.
20. At one Commission session, I watched the Secretary sit through the review of Egypt’s country report, with much of the discussion in Arabic, without wearing earphones for translation. The Secretary does not speak Arabic. At another Commission session which was not being taped, when I asked the Secretary for an explanation, he provided the lame excuse that, while the equipment for taping was available, he had no budget allocation to purchase tapes.
21. Perhaps this is a naive assumption on my part, but a number of funders have made this point. I know, for example, that the UN Fund for Technical Assistance has been holding funds for the Commission for over a year because they have not received required reports on past funding.
22. Such horizontal enforcement has also not occurred at the level of the United Nations Covenants, for the same reasons.
23. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu and Abdullahi An-Naim, “Enhancing the Procedures of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights with Respect to Individual Communications,” a Consultation Paper on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1993, p. 1.
24. International Commission of Jurists, “Brainstorming Session . . .,” Summary Report, Dakar, Senegal, 13-15 January 1993, 8 p. at p.6.
25. Ibid.
26. “Conclusions and Recommendations” of the Fifth ICJ Workshop on NGO Participation in the Work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 28-30 November 1993, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 3 p. at p. 2. The decision to establish a Central Register of Complaints was made at the 4th Workshop in Banjul, March 1993.
27. Amnesty International Statement to the 14th ordinary session of the Commission, Addis Ababa, 1-10 December 1993.
28. Ibid.
29. “African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 14th session,” Zimrights News, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1993, p. 1 & 5, at p. 5.
30. Wiseberg, op.cit., p. 10.
31. The role of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) was central to this process. Not only has the ICJ been center stage in organizing meetings that have moved the process forward, the ICJ Secretary-General, Adama Dieng, when he was still Legal Officer for Africa, personally lobbied almost all African heads of state and government to ratify the Convention.
32. “Conclusions and Recommendations,” Fifth ICJ Workshop on NGO Participation in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,” 28-30 November 1993, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; “Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights” and “Explanatory Notes to the Draft Protocol,” subsequently disseminated by the ICJ.
33. To be considered for Observer Status, NGOs need simply to submit copies of their by-laws or Constitution, the names of their Board members, and a statement of their interest in the work of the African Commission. It is, of course, always helpful if a representative of the NGO is present when its application is being considered, though that is not essential. NGOs so accredited are also asked to send relevant publications they produce to the Commission’s documentation center, and to submit a biennial report to the Commission describing their activities in support of the work of the Commission.
36. This has been made possible, in part, by funding that the ICJ has secured for their pre-sessional workshops, which has covered the travel expenses of 20 or more African NGOs for each session.
37. Statement by H.E. Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, OAU Secretary General on the Occasion of the Opening of the Fifth ICJ Workshop on NGO Participation in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 29-30 November 1993, Addis Ababa, 7 pp. at p. 3.
38. Statement by Mr. Layashi Yaker, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Fifth ICJ Workshop, op.cit.
39. Odinkalu, Chidi Anselm, “Courting the Court,” African Topics, Issue 2 (March/April 1994), p. 11 Google Scholar.