African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

charter, treaty

Ein location	Nairobi
Point for tym insyd	27 June 1981
Depositary	African Union Commission

De African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (sanso known as de Banjul Charter) be international human rights instrument wey be intended to promote den protect human rights den basic freedoms insyd de African continent.

Edey commot under de ages of de Organisation of African Unity (As dem replace am with de African Union) which, at ein 1979 Assembly of Heads of State den Government, adopted a resolution calling for de creation of a committee of experts to draft a continent-wide human rights instrument, similar to those dat already existed insyd Europe (European Convention on Human Rights) den de Americas (American Convention on Human Rights). Dis committee was duly set up, den e produced a draft that was unanimously approved at de OAU ein 18th Assembly held insyd June 1981, insyd Nairobi, Kenya. Pursuant to ein Article 63 (whereby e be to "come into force three months after de reception by de Secretary General of de instruments of ratification or adherence of a simple majority" of de OAU ein member states), de African Charter on Human den Peoples ein Rights come into effect on 21 October 1986– insyd honour of which 21 October be declared "African Human Rights Day".

Oversight den interpretation of de Charter be de task of de African Commission on Human and Peoples ein Rights, which be set up on November 2, 1987 insyd Addis Ababa (PM Ebbaa.A), Ethiopia den be now headquartered insyd Banjul, Gambia. A protocol to de Charter be subsequently adopted insyd 1998 whereby an African Court on Human and Peoples ein Rights be to be created. De protocol come into effect on 25 January 2004.

Insyd July 2004, de AU Assembly decided dat de ACHP would be incorporated into de African Court of Justice. Insyd July 2005, de AU Assembly then decided dat de ACHP should be operationalised despite de fact dat de protocol establishing de African Court of Justice had not yet come into effect. Accordingly, de Eighth Ordinary Session of de Executive Council of de African Union meeting insyd Khartoum, Sudan, on 22 January 2006, elected de first judges of de African Court on Human and Peoples ein Rights. De relationship between de newly created Court den de commission be yet to be determined.

As of 2019, 53 states have ratified de Charter.

Content

De African Charter on Human den People ein Rights include preamble, 3 parts, 4 chapters, den 63 articles. De Charter established a regional human rights system for Africa. De Charter shares many features plus oda regional instruments, but sanso has notable unique characteristics concerning de norms e recognizes sanso ein supervisory mechanism.

De preamble commits to de elimination of Zionism, which e compare plus colonialism den apartheid, causing South Africa to qualify ein 1996 accession plus de reservation dat de Charter fall in line plus de UN ein resolutions "regarding de characterization of Zionism."

Norms wey contain insyd de Charter

Civil den political rights

De Charter dey recognize most of what be regarded universally accepted civil den political rights. De civil den political rights recognized insyd de Charter dey include de right to freedom from discrimination (Article 2 and 18(3)), equality (Article 3), life den personal integrity (Article 4), dignity (Article 5), freedom from slavery (Article 5), freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 5), rights to due process concerning arrest den detention (Article 6), de right to a fair trial (Article 7 and 25), freedom of religion (Article 8), freedom of information den expression (Article 9), freedom of association (Article 10), freedom of assembly (Article 11), freedom of movement (Article 12), freedom to political participation (Article 13), de right to property (Article 14), den de right to resist (Article 20).

Some human rights scholars however consider de Charter ein coverage of oda civil den political rights to be inadequate. For example, de right to privacy or a right against forced or compulsory labour be not explicitly recognised. De provisions concerning fair trial den political participation be considered incomplete by international standards.

Economic, social den cultural rights

De Charter sanso recognise certain economic, social den cultural rights, den overall de Charter be considered to place considerable emphasis on these rights. De Charter recognises right to work (Article 15), de right to health (Article 16), den de right to education (Article 17). Through a decision by de African Commission on Human den Peoples' Rights, SERAC v Nigeria (2001), de Charter sanso dey understandd to include a right to housing den a right to food as "implicit" insyd de Charter, particularly insyd light of ein provisions on de right to life (Art. 4), right to health (Art. 16) den to development (Art. 22).

Peoples' rights den group rights

Insyd addition to recognising de individual rights mentioned above de Charter sana recognises collective or group rights, or peoples ein rights den third-generation human rights. As such de Charter recognises group rights to a degree not matched by de European or Inter-American regional human rights instruments. De Charter awards de family protection by de state (Article 18), while "peoples" have de right to equality (Article 19), de right to self-determination (Article 20), to freely dispose of their wealth den natural resources (Article 21), de right to development (Article 22), de right to peace den security (Article 23) den "a generally satisfactory environment" (Article 24).

Duties

De Charter not only awards rights to individuals den peoples, but sanso dey include duties incumbent upon them. These duties be contain insyd Article 29 den be as follows

• De duty to preserve de harmonious development of de family.
• To serve de national community by placing both physical den intellectual abilities at ein service.
• Not to compromise de security of de State.
• To preserve den strengthen social den national solidarity.
• To preserve den strengthen national independence den de territorial integrity of one ein country den to contribute to ein defence.
• To work to de best of one ein abilities den competence den to pay taxes insyd de interest of society.
• To preserve den strengthen positive African cultural values den insyd general to contribute to de promotion of de moral well-being of society.
• To contribute to de best of one ein abilities to de promotion den achievement of African unity.

External links

• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
• African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
• Decisions of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council