Chapter 3 • The Major Regional Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation 1. Introduction Beginning with the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950, the trend to elaborate regional standards continued with the adoption of the American Convention on Human Rights in 1967, which was subsequently followed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted in 1981. Various other regional treaties have been elaborated in an effort to render the protection not only of civil and political rights, but also of economic, social and cultural rights, more efficient. In this chapter a presentation will be given of some of the major regional human rights treaties existing in Africa, the Americas and Europe. However, given that these systems for the protection of the human person have been dealt with in depth elsewhere, the present Manual will limit itself to describing their major features. 2. African Human Rights Treaties and their Implementation 2.1 The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981 The adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 1981 was the beginning of a new era in the field of human rights in Africa.1 It entered into force on 21 October 1986, and as of 29 April 2002 had 53 States parties. Although strongly inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the two International Covenants on human rights and the regional human rights conventions, the African Charter reflects a high degree of specificity due in particular to the African conception of the term “right” and the place it accords to the responsibilities of human beings.2 The Charter contains a long list of rights, covering a wide spectrum not only of civil and political rights, but also of economic, social and cultural rights. The African Charter further created the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, “to promote human and peoples’ rights and ensure their protection in Africa” (art. 30). In 1998, the Protocol to the Charter on the Establishment of an African Court of Human Rights was also adopted, but, as of 30 April 2002, this Protocol had not yet entered into force, having secured only 5 of the required 15 ratifications. Lastly, work on the elaboration of an additional protocol concerning the rights of women in Africa is in progress within the framework of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Commission being assisted in this task by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.3 1 Fatsah Ouguergouz, La Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples – Une approche juridique des droits de l’homme entre tradition et modernité (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1993 (Publications de l’Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales, Genève)), p. xxv. 2 Keba Mbaye, Les droits de l’homme en Afrique (Paris, Editions A. Pedone/Commission Internationale de Juristes, 1992), p. 161. 3 See Mutoy Mubiala, “Le Projet du Protocole à la Charte Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples relatif aux Droits de la Femme en Afrique”, in Human Rights, Spring 2000 (OUNHCHR review), pp. 23-27. 72 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers