| Foreword Desmond Tutu | v |
| Introduction Anton Bösl and Joseph Diescho | vii |
| List of contributors | xiii |
| List of abbreviations | xxi |
| Section I The Paradigm of Human Rights and its Relevance for Africa | |
| Human rights between universalism and cultural relativism? The need for anthropological jurisprudence in the globalising world Manfred O Hinz | 3 |
| The universal in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights | 3 |
| Human rights in legal anthropological perspective and the need foranthropological jurisprudence | 7 |
| Conclusion | 26 |
| Transitional justice and human rights in Africa Charles Villa-Vicencio | 33 |
| Introduction | 33 |
| Transitional justice | 35 |
| African traditional justice systems | 37 |
| Transitional justice in Africa | 46 |
| Human rights education in Africa Nico Horn | 53 |
| Introduction: Human rights education in the context of the United Nations | 53 |
| Africa and the UN system | 57 |
| The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights | 59 |
| The road to the Decade for Human Rights Education | 61 |
| The UN Decade for Human Rights Education justice in Africa | 62 |
| Human rights after the UN Decade for Human Rights Education | 71 |
| World Programme for Human Rights Education | 74 |
| Final comments | 75 |
| Section II The International Justice System and Human Rights in Africa | |
| The United Nations and the advancement of human rights in Africa Wilfred Nderitu | 81 |
| Abstract | 81 |
| Introduction | 81 |
| Defining poverty as a human rights issue | 83 |
| Synergy between the efforts of different international institutions and other actorsin the fight against poverty | 91 |
| Responsibility of the State in poverty alleviation from a juristic perspective | 98 |
| Conclusion | 101 |
| International criminal justice and the protection of human rights in Africa Francois-Xavier Bangamwabo | 105 |
| Introduction | 105 |
| The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda – ICTR | 106 |
| The Special Court for Sierra Leone – SCSL | 112 |
| The International Criminal Court – ICC | 117 |
| Conclusion | 128 |
| Section III The African Union and the Regional Protection of Human Rights | |
| The African Union: Concepts and implementation mechanisms relating to humanrights Bience Gawanas | 135 |
| Introduction | 135 |
| OAU to AU: A brief overview | 136 |
| Key issues | 140 |
| Strategies for enhancing human rights protection and promotion | 155 |
| Conclusion | 160 |
| Major African legal instruments and human rights Sheila B Keetharuth | 163 |
| Introduction | 163 |
| The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights | 166 |
| Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights ofWomen in Africa | 180 |
| Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa | 188 |
| Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa | 194 |
| The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child | 201 |
| The OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa | 208 |
| The Draft African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance forInternally Displaced Persons in Africa | 209 |
| The African Charter and the protection of refugees through communications beforethe African Commission | 215 |
| The AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption | 217 |
| Conclusion | 224 |
| African courts on human rights and the African Commission Michelo Hansungule | 233 |
| Introduction | 233 |
| Evolution of the justice architecture in the AU | 234 |
| The African Court of Justice and Human Rights | 237 |
| The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights | 248 |
| Conclusion | 269 |
| Section IV Subregional Human-Rights-Related Institutions in Africa | |
| Regional economic communities and human rights in East and southern Africa Oliver C Ruppel | 275 |
| Introduction | 275 |
| Regional economic communities in East and southern Africa | 284 |
| Concluding remarks | 314 |
| Regional economic communities and human rights in West Africa and the African Arabic countries Enyinna S Nwauche | 319 |
| Introduction | 319 |
| West African countries | 320 |
| African Arabic countries | 338 |
| Concluding remarks | 346 |
| Section V National Human Rights Institutions in Africa | |
| Human Rights Commissions in Africa – Lessons and challenges Chris Maina Peter | 351 |
| Introduction – Implementing human rights | 351 |
| National human rights institutions in Africa | 352 |
| A sample of NHRIs on the continent | 353 |
| Lessons and opportunities from human rights institutions in Africa | 369 |
| Challenges faced by human rights institutions in Africa | 369 |
| Conclusion | 370 |
| Can Truth Commissions in Africa deliver justice? Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza | 375 |
| Introduction | 375 |
| Why a Truth Commission? | 378 |
| The notion of justice | 379 |
| Truth Commissions in Africa: Will they deliver justice – any justice? | 382 |
| Ubuntu | 383 |
| Case study – Sudan | 385 |
| Findings of the Commission | 385 |
| Conclusion | 386 |
| Appendix | |
| African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights | 389 |