"The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), in spite of its commitments to human rights, failed to develop its institutions for conflict resolution and thus address the problem of massive and grave human rights violations that occurred as a result of conflicts. The OAU failed to actively engage the African Commission, which was established to promote and protect human rights, in addressing any of the conflicts in Africa. The OAU also failed to take action on the reports of the African Commission, in which the Commission had highlighted cases of massive and grave violations of human rights occasioned from conflicts. Consequently, most of the conflicts in Africa have not been fully resolved and there are still instances of sporadic outbreaks of violent conflicts with fatal consequences. The African Union (AU) improves upon the commitment of the OAU to human rights and conflict resolution by incorporating human rights norms into its Constitutive Act and the establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AUPSC). However, the AU is yet to demonstrate its real commitment to human rights and conflict resolution particularly in taking action on reports of violations of human rights occurring as a result of conflicts. ... This thesis is composed of five chapters. This first chapter provides a general introduction to the thesis and outlines its structure. Chapter two looks at the relationship between human rights and conflict resolution and examines some of the tensions that exist between the two fields in terms of their normative standards, objectives and strategies. The third chapter then looks at the mechanisms for conflict resolution in Africa under the OAU, manely the Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration (CMCA) and the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (MCPMR), their successes and failures and the lessons that can be drawn from their performance and also discusses the role of the African Commission in conflict resolution. Chapter four discusses the AUPSC, its structure, powers, organisaton and performance so far. Chapter five covers the conclusions and recommendations of the study." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Enid Hill at the Department of Political Science, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, American University in Cairo, Egypt / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The African continent has over the past 40 years witnessed a continued scourge of violent conflict and human rights abuses. These conflicts have significantly undermined the social, political, and economic prosperity of African citizens. Additionally, women and children are particularly affected by these conflicts. Women and children are regarded as ‘the most vulnerable’ as they often become the targets of sexual abuse by the enemy. The African Union (AU) is primarily responsible for the resolution of conflicts on the continent. It professes to be committed to the prevention of human rights abuses and the protection of African women (and children) during armed conflicts. It has thus developed an array of mechanisms, protocols, and instruments to address the exploitation and sexual abuse of women during conflict periods. These instruments include: The Constitutive Act of the AU (2000); The Solemn Declaration of Gender Equality in Africa (2003); the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa- ACHPRWA (2004); and the Protocol relating to the Peace and Security Council. In this research project, I consider whether the narratives used in these AU documents sufficiently and explicitly address the use of rape as a strategic weapon during armed conflicts; or whether these narratives inadvertently contribute to a culture that perpetuates war-time rape. My analysis shows that these AU documents deal with war-time rape in very vague and euphemistic terms. Although gender discrimination, sexual violence, exploitation, discrimination, and harmful practices against women are condemned, the delegitimization of rape as a weapon of war is not specifically discussed. This allows for varying interpretations of AU protocols, including interpretations which may diminish the severity of strategic rape. This has lead me to propose that the narratives used in these AU protocols and related documents draw on patriarchy, perpetuate patriarchy, and thus inadvertently perpetuates a culture that perpetuates the use of rape as a weapon of war

La promotion de la paix, de la sécurité et de la stabilité est un objectif fondamental de l’Union africaine, l’Organisation continentale panafricaine. Cet objectif constitue désormais une fonction juridique essentielle pour laquelle a été mise en place au sein de l’Organisation un mécanisme approprié : l’architecture de paix et de sécurité (APSA). Bâtie sur une articulation juridique actualisée, au cœur de laquelle se trouve le Conseil de paix et de sécurité, cette fonction se trouve placée dans des conditions juridiques, devant permettre à l’Union africaine d’agir efficacement dans les situations d’atteinte à la paix, à la sécurité et à la stabilité. Plus d’une décennie après la mise en place de la nouvelle Organisation, le caractère fondamental de cette fonction pousse dès lors à s’interroger sur sa place exacte, à la lumière des capacités de l’Organisation à l’assurer à l’épreuve des faits. Cette interrogation éclaire les conditions d’émergence de la fonction mais place sa dynamique de mise en oeuvre dans un contexte ambivalent marqué tout à la fois par le caractère extensif des compétences de l’Organisation dans ce domaine mais également par la portée limitée de celle-ci face à la multiplication des conflits. / The Promotion of Peace, security and stability is a fundamental objective of the African Union, the Pan African continental organization. This aim is a now a core legal function for which has been established an appropriate scheme within the Organization: the Architecture of Peace and Security in Africa (APSA). Within an updated legal articulation, at the heart of which is the Peace and Security Council, this function is placed in legal conditions that must allow the African Union to act effectively in the cases of breach of peace, security and stability. More than a decade after the establishment of the new organization, the fundamental nature of this function, pushes therefore to question its proper place, in light of the capacity of the Organization to ensure it, at the facts test. This question illuminates emergence conditions of this function but identifies also an ambivalent dynamic in its implementation, marked at once by the extensive nature of the competences of the Organization in this area but its limited scope when facing increasing conflicts.