International organizations in implementing strategies against human rights violations. A comparative analysis of the work of the African Union and the Council of Europe.

Abstract

For functional efficacy of the African human rights system to be enhanced, the study juxtaposes two International Organizations with the intention of eliciting lessons which can be drawn from experiences of the European system to its African counterpart. This study examines the policies and structures developed under the auspices of the AU and the Council of Europe, in relation to human rights, and their implications for the enforcement of human rights. It seeks to discover if the adoption of the policies will, in themselves, bring about greater respect for human rights in Africa, and focuses on the possibilities of these policies in solving the nagging problem of non-compliance with human rights norms in Africa. In this respect, it depicts the potential human rights enforcement mechanisms offered by the union of states, and further proposes and explores the possibility of a change in policy implementation and the issue of political willingness as the much-needed ‘panacea’ to the problem.