REGIONALHUMAN RIGHTS

PROTECTION MECHANISMS

THE 3 MAJOR REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEMS

EUROPE – AMERICA – AFRICA

3 major regional organisations

3 major regional human rights instruments and their protocols

3 major regional implementation organs

REGIONAL HR MECHANISMSINTRODUCTION

Advantage: Possibility to bring your claim at a supranational level (above the State)

Problems:AccessibilityPolitical interferenceEfficiency of implementation (including challenge of relationship with domestic system)

REGIONAL HR MECHANISMS

Products of historical, institutional and political evolution

Universal human rights Political organisationControl mechanism SubsidiarityPolitical will

1. EUROPE

Two major preoccupations in Europe after the Second World War :

Restoring fundamental human rights

Securing peace in Europe

European construction and integration of the Council of Europe

1. EUROPE Council of Europe – Member States:

Founding members (1949): Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Greece, Turkey

Western Europe (1950-1989): Iceland, Germany, Austria, Cyprus, Switzerland, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Finland

Central and Eastern Europe (1990’s):

Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, [Andorra], Albania, Latvia, Moldova, FYR of Macedonia, Ukraine, Croatia, Russian Federation, Georgia.

Since 2000: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, [Monaco]

1. EUROPE Council of Europe – InstitutionsCommittee of MinistersParliamentary AssemblySecretariat Human rights at the centre: European Convention on Human Rights & European Court of Human Rights (1950) other human rights instruments Commissioner

2. AMERICAS 1948: American Declaration of the Rights of

Man and Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS)

1959: Inter-American Commission on HR (1965: individual petition)

1969: American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR)

1970: Revised Charter of the Organization of American States

1978: Entry into force of the ACHR

1978: Entry in function of the Inter-American Court of HR

2. AMERICAS

25 American States have ratified or adopted the ACHR: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

2. AMERICASTrinidad and Tobago denounced the ACHR in 1998 (death penalty cases)

Cuba is not a Member of the OAS

Canada has not signed nor ratified

USA has signed but never ratified

many small islands and small territories have not signed the ACHR.

3. OTHER REGIONS - ASIAMany attempts to establish a regional body in the Asian Region (Asia-Pacific region)

UN programs (Tehran framework), Law Asia, Bangkok declaration, Asean meetings, Asian NGOs and Asian human rights commission

ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), Terms of Reference (ToR) adopted 20th July, Phuket, Thailand

3. OTHER REGIONS

League of the Arab States / Revised Arab Charter on Human Rights (2004)

Organization of the Islamic Conference/Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990)

4. AFRICA Organisation of African Unity (1963):

safeguarding African sovereignty; territorial integrity; a commitment to decolonisation, and liberation struggle

African Union (2002): peace, security, and stability on the continent; democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance; and promoting and protecting human peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other relevant human rights instruments.

4. AFRICA

53 members states: all African States except Morocco (Western Sahara dispute)

African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981)

4. AFRICA

Main organs of the AU:

Assembly

Executive Council

Commission

Permanent Representatives' Committee

Peace and Security Council (PSC)

Pan-African Parliament

ECOSOCC

The Court of Justice

+ Specialized Technical Committees, Financial Institutions

(African Central Bank; African Monetary Fund; African Investment Bank)

+ NEPAD (New partnership for African development)

THE RIGHTS PROTECTEDCivil and Political Rights (all)Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (African; Inter-American by special protocol but mentioned in text of C.)

Collective/peoples’ Rights (African)

Duties (African Charter; Inter-American Convention)

Derogations (European and Inter-American Conventions)

COMPLAINTS MECHANISMS

European Court of Human Rights (Before: both Commission and Court)

Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights

African Commission of Human Rights and Court of Human Rights (under establishment)

WHO CAN COMPLAIN?States

Individuals / NGOs / groups of persons

Admissibility criteria

END RESULT?Judgment or decision on violationCompensation for pecuniary and non pecuniary damages + costs and expenses

Indication regarding what the State should do

Supervision of the implementation of the judgment (by political organ/court)

OTHER AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTSOAU Refugee Convention 1969/1974African Charter on the Rights and

Welfare of the Child 1990/1999Protocol to the African Charter on the

Rights of Women in Africa 2003/2005Convention on Preventing and

Combating Corruption 2003/2006African Charter on Democracy and

Governance 2007/

AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SUPERVISORY ORGANS/INSTITUTIONS

African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights –Established under the African Charter – 1987

African Court on Human and People’s Rights 1998/2004 merged with the Court of Justice in 2008, creating an African Court of Justice and Human Rights

Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1999/2001

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) 2002 adoption -

WORKINGS OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION Mandate to promote and protectComplaint/Communications mechanism –State and Individual

State reporting systemSpecial rapporteurs and working groups

On-site visitsAdoption of resolutionsHuman rights education

WORKINGS OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION

The Individual complaint system not expressly provided –Serious and massive violations (art 58)

Relevance of art 56 - AdmissibilityNo victim requirementInterim/provisional measures –Rule 111

Challenge of enforcement

AFRICAN COURT ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

Inaugurated in 2007 – Statute of African Court of Justice and Human Rights Adopted 1 July 2008

Seat of African HR Court in ArushaRules of procedures newly adoptedJurisdiction over African Charter,

Protocol and other relevant instruments

Restricted access for individuals/NGOs

CONCLUSION

Not a perfect system but it has come to stay and there is only room for improvement.

Every body has a part to play.