Components and Mechanisms

The (Non-)Existence of The African Human Rights Protection System

Abstract

This article examines the existence of an African system for the protection of human rights, problematizing—through a rhetorical expression—the tension between the presence of normative and institutional “components,” on the one hand, and the absence of functional “mechanisms” capable of ensuring their articulation, on the other. Its objective is to assess whether the African normative and institutional framework in fact constitutes an integrated system or rather a fragmented arrangement. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach, grounded in a historical-legal analysis of the institutions and instruments developed from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the current African Union (AU). It is argued that, at its inception, there was no programmatic design or normative rationality oriented toward the construction of a human rights protection system; systemic logic was not an original objective of the drafters of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This circumstance produced a dual outcome: on the one hand, a densification of normative instruments; on the other, a proliferation of regional and continental bodies marked by coordination deficits and the duplication and overlap of functions. In light of this diagnosis of fragmented jurisdictional pluralism, the article concludes by proposing avenues for institutional reform.