The African Charter: Rights, Duties and Peoples

The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted in 1981 by the Organization of African Unity and in force from 1986, was shaped by the experience of colonialism. It stands out in three ways. It protects 'peoples' rights' as well as individual rights, including self-determination, development and a 'satisfactory environment'. It lists duties owed by individuals to family, community and state. And it places economic and social rights alongside civil and political ones without a hierarchy.

Its African Commission, based in Banjul, The Gambia, hears complaints; in the 2010 Endorois decision it found Kenya had violated the rights of a pastoralist community removed from its land. An African Court, based in Arusha, Tanzania, began work in 2006, but relatively few states allow individuals and NGOs to bring cases to it directly, and several have withdrawn that permission. Supporters see the Charter as an African contribution to rights thinking; critics worry that duties could be used to justify restrictions.