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The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: A Comprehensive Agenda for Human Dignity and Sustainable Democracy in Africa. By Fatsah Ouguergouz. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 2003. Pp. xlvii, 1016. Index. $297, euro275.
Africa is defined more by the frequency of its coup d'états than by regular and peaceful transitions of governmental authority, more by the banning or imprisoning of dissent than by the vibrancy of contested elections, and more by failed (Somalia) or nearly failed (Congo) states than by stable democracies; the continent was the site of the most chilling genocide since World War II; and its human rights record is generally abysmal. On that basis, it would probably be hard for a stranger to guess that there is, in fact, a fairly elaborate regional human rights system. But there is.
Along with Europe and the Americas, Africa stands as one of the three regions that have adopted their own systems of human rights to complement (or bring closer to home) international systems of human rights. The gap between declaration and action, however, has often been so wide in Africa as to lead many to wonder whether its regional human rights system is functioning at all. Fatsah Ouguergouz's aim in this large book-The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: A Comprehensive Agenda for Human Dignity and Sustainable Democracy in Africa-is to show that the continent's human rights system is actually fairly elaborate and working reasonably well, and that there is a realistic prospect for the gap between declaration and practice to narrow. His hope is to reveal "the true spirit of the African Charter and to show its legal significance and the actual and potential role it can play in the protection of human rights in Africa" (p. 14).
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights,1 adopted in 1981 under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity (which was recently transformed into the African Union), is the document that established the system of human rights for the region. It is also the subject of this excellent book. Ouguergouz-associate editor of the African Yearbook of International Law-has written a historically informed book with superb technical and comparative skill. The book begins by examining the process that led to the adoption of the...