African Charter On Human Rights

The transcription discusses the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. It provides a brief overview of the main issues covered in the charter, including the recognition of rights and freedoms, equality before the law, prohibition of slavery and torture, right to liberty and security, freedom of conscience and religion, right to receive and express information, right to work and health, right to education and cultural life, protection of the family unit, right to property, right to coexistence and self-determination, right to a satisfactory environment, and the promotion and protection of rights through education and independent courts. The charter was adopted in 1981 and entered into force in 1986. Many African countries have ratified it. The charter reflects the historical context of colonialism in Africa and aims to eradicate it while promoting international cooperation and human rights principles. Hi, welcome to this new episode of the African Chatter on Human Rights and it's going to be a quick overview of some of the main issues. Again, as always, this is the Diary of a Loyal and we're not going to go through the nuances, but rather an overview of the main issues regarding the African Chatter on Human Rights. So I will start with the preamble, just a quick background on history. The Chatter has a history where the African States, members of the organization of the African Unity then, met in July 1979 to try to prepare a draft and they went through some of the issues and they wanted to stipulate that freedom, equality, justice and dignity are the essential objectives for the legitimate aspirations of the African peoples. Of course, by then, some countries were still under colonialism, even as late as the 1980s, sorry, 70s, late 70s. And essentially they concluded that it was a duty to promote and protect human rights and people's rights and freedoms and take into the account the importance of, the importance traditionally attached to those rights and freedoms in Africa. And it has a number of articles. We won't go into the various details, but we'll just quickly run through many of the articles, some of the articles. Article 1 indicates that the parties to the present Chatter recognize the rights and duties, freedoms that are stipulated in Chatter. Article 2 makes reference to every individual being entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the Chatter without discrimination of race, ethnic origin, color, sex, language, you know, protected characteristics. Article 3 reaffirms that any individual is equal before the law and requires equal protection of the law. Article 4 states that the human rights are inviolable, human beings are inviolable and every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and integrity of his person and no one should be arbitrarily denied of that right. Article 5 indicates that every individual shall have the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. It makes reference to the prohibition and exploitation of slavery, threat, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6 makes reference to the right to liberty and the security of the person. Article 7 has enumerated, I think, two sub-sections which are further broken down, but essentially makes the point that every individual has the right to have his cause heard, which comprises of the appeal to competent national organs, presumed innocent, right to defend and reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal, which is echoed in other charters we've covered here. Article 8 makes reference to freedom of conscience and profession and free practice of religion. Article 9 makes reference to the right to receive free information and express themselves and disseminate their opinions within the law. And in Article 10 affirms the right to free association within the law. And it goes on to say that such obligation is provided for in Article 29 and no one can be compelled to join an association. Article 12 makes reference to the right to movement. Article 13, the right to fully participate in the government of his country directly or through children representatives. Article 14 guarantees the right to property. Article 15 confirms that every individual shall have the right to work under equitable and satisfactory conditions and shall receive equal pay for equal work. Article 16 states that every person shall have the right to the best attainable set of physical and mental health. I think it makes reference to health, which is also echoed in other conventions. Article 17 indicates that every person shall have the right to education, cultural life of his community, and which should be protected by the state. Article 18 makes reference to the family unit as a basis for society which shall be protected by the state and breaks down the other rights attached to the family unit. And Article 19 again confirms that all people shall be equal and shall enjoy the same respect and shall have the same rights and nothing shall justify the determination of people by another. Article 20 makes reference to the right to coexistence, unquestionably, and a narrow, inalienable right to self-determination to determine the political status and pursue economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen. And makes reference to the colonized or oppressed peoples' right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognized by the international community. I think that was echoing within colonization and domination by many European countries, African countries, where Africa was still under the yoke of colonization. And Article 21 makes reference to the freedom for people to dispose of their wealth and natural resources and the disposition of people to have the right to the hopeful recovery of their property. And again mentions that state parties shall present the charter individually and collectively exercise the right to a free disposal of their rights, of their property. And Article 22 again sort of refers to the right to economic, social and cultural development with regard to the freedom and identity and equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind. And everyone shall have the duty individually or collectively to ensure the exercise of the right to development. And Article 23 indicates that all peoples have the right to national and international peace and security. And it goes on to say that for the purposes of strengthening peace and solidarity and friendly relations, state parties to the charter shall ensure that every individual has the right of asylum under Article 12 of the present charter, shall not engage in subversive activities in this country of origin or any other part of the present charter, and their territories shall not be used as bases for subversive or terrorist activities of the people of any other state or charter. And Article 24 states that all peoples have the right to a generous and satisfactory environment to their development. Again, that's self-evident. And I conclude with Article 25 and 25.6 which gives direction to the state parties to promote and ensure through teaching, education, publication, the rights and freedoms in the charter. And Article 26, to guarantee the independence of the courts and allow the establishment and improvement of national institutions entrusted with the promotion and protection of the rights and freedoms presented in the charter. And then it goes on to list the duties which we will not go into. Essentially, it just enumerates or echoes similar freedoms and liberties that are mentioned in others such as the European Convention of Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and I'm sure it will probably look like the South American version of the charter. But just briefly before we... just a quick overview. Obviously, it appears that this charter was set in the times when Africa was still going through the yoke of colonialism. And some of the articles there reflect that. And essentially trying to set colonialism as a breach of human rights, which in many cases it was because of the violence and subjugation associated with that. But it's important to just briefly give you a quick history here. The date of entry into force of the charter was listed as October 21st, 1986. And it entered into force and was adopted June 27th, 1981. I think I mentioned the first meeting was around 79. So it did take some time, but eventually it got there. And it briefly reads that the African States members of the Organization of African Unity present the convention entitled African Charter on Human and People's Rights, makes reference to when they first met in July 79, and conclude by saying that they are refarming the pledge they summarily made in Article 2 of the charter to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa to coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa and to promote international cooperation and have in due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So there, again, echoing and reiterating both the charter and the original outstanding mother of all human rights conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And most countries ratified it again around various times, but most of them have ratified the alphabetical order. I think it ends with Zimbabwe and starts with Angola. Algeria, I'm not going to read all of it. It looks like a number of countries have ratified that. And so there we shall leave it. I've gone through the issues around different main articles of the African Charter of Human Rights. We covered the European Convention of Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the US Constitution. And all these things seem to echo almost the same principle, unquestionably, which indicates the, if you like, the sameness of humanity and that we all want the same thing. And so there we shall leave it on this episode of the Diary of a Lawyer. And we'll speak again on another episode. And I'll see you soon. Thank you and thank you for listening.