The role and effectiveness of National Human Rights Commissions in advancing domestic implementation of socio-economic rights in Commonwealth Africa

Abstract

For decades, widespread poverty and increasing inequality continue to wreak social deprivation and diminish the quality of life across Commonwealth African states. Given the redistributive value of socio-economic rights, the need to ensure their implementation as a relevant strategy to improve peoples’ general wellbeing is unquestionable.National Human Rights Commissions (NHRCs) are uniquely relevant to advance state implementation of socio-economic rights. These institutions function in most Commonwealth African states, yet contemporary scholarship has hardly noticed the relevance and practical efforts of NHRCs in advancing the implementation of socio-economic rights. To fill this gap, this study evaluates the role and effectiveness of NHRCs in advancing domestic implementation of socioeconomic rights in Commonwealth African states, using the National Human Rights Commissions (NHRCs) of Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda as case studies. Employing a mix of valuable data generated through primary and secondary sources and interviews with relevant stakeholders, including senior members and staff of the focused NHRCs and representatives of relevant NGOs, the study concludes that NHRCs are strategically valuable institutions for advancing the domestic implementation of socio-economic rights in Commonwealth African states. However, the ability of NHRCs to play an effective role in this regard is predicated on four background factors: the explicit provision of socio-economic rights as justiciable guarantees in the constitutional framework of states; the granting of explicit legal or constitutional mandate on socio-economic rights to NHRCs; strengthening the institutional architecture of NHRCs and the ability of the courts and parliament to adequately support and supplement the efforts these institutions. Therefore, the study recommends the need to ensure that these factors are provided in the legal culture and practice of Commonwealth African states in relation to the legal status of socioeconomic rights and mandates of NHRCs to advance the domestic implementation of these rights.