Human rights developments in the African Union during 2010 and 2011

Abstract

This article considers human rights developments in the African Union (AU) during 2010 and 2011; two years that saw the work of the leading human rights institution on the African continent, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), stagnate, in particular in its work on individual communications. Despite increased resources, the Commission and its Secretariat have been unable to increase the visibility and impact of its work. This situation was exacerbated by the interference with the work of the Commission by the political organs of the AU, most prominently by refusing to publish the Activity Report of the Commission. This delayed the publication of the 29th Activity Report by a year. The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is off to a slow start, spending much time and resources on trying to convince states to ratify the Protocol and make the declaration allowing individuals and NGOs to submit cases to the Court. The article also covers developments in the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which for the first time adopted a decision on a communication, the African Peer Review Mechanism and the AU policy organs.