Institutional Enforcement of the Charter: Challenges Faced by the African Court and Commission

Abstract

This chapter begins the third part of the book by examining the effectiveness of the existing institutional framework for enforcing the Charter. Two distinct bodies were created to oversee the implementation of the Charter and its Protocol. They are the African Commission and the African Court. While the African Commission is charged with the promotion and protection of human rights, the Court is to complement the protective mandate of the Commission. The creation of a Court to complement the protective mandate of the Commission can already be viewed as an admission, by the relevant parties, of the inadequacy of the former in that respect. These perceived inadequacies are introduced in this chapter and further examined in the next. The chapter also briefly examines the promotional mandate of the Commission and identifies some of the challenges that arise in the fulfilment of this mandate.