Human rights norms may have universal application but States have the primary obligation alone and through international and regional co-operation to guarantee their protection and enjoyment. Regional systems for the protection of human rights have become an established part of such mechanisms of international co-operation. Each regional system is uniquely shaped by the States comprised in it, often reflecting both regional contextual characteristics and comparative and historical experience. So far as the African human rights system is concerned, the scope of its overall obligations and institutional elements are somewhat unclear in the context of regional integration arrangements. This thesis therefore sets out to bring clarity to these issues in order to better realise the full potential of the African human rights system in its quest to ensure effective protection of human rights and offer more effective remedies for violations of human rights. The study takes a holistic approach and argues that Africa's regional human rights system includes regional integration arrangements in which human rights are fused on the continent. It investigates and analyses the evolution of regionalism as well as norms and institutions for advancing regional integration and human rights in Africa. Particular attention is paid in this connection to evidence of over-laps, complementarity, and convergence in such norms and institutions. A related objective of this study is to unravel the extent to which Africa's regional intergration systems may be said to be now underpinned by objective political values binding upon its Member States as reflected in the treaties establishing such systems. This is justified on the premise that integration is an imperative response to the contradictory tendencies of globalisation, nationalism, and the potential or actual arbitrary behaviour of individual States, which tend to undermine the objective of the universal protection of human rights. In these circumstances, the continuing sustainability of the promise of human rights in Africa depends significantly on effective international and regional oversight of State conduct. For this purpose, regional integration and human rights mutually reinforce one another in binding legal commitments and .. 11 regional institutions for their implementation. Far from being mutually antagonistic, they are now mutually interdependent and overlap in defining the scope and functions of sovereign territoriality in Afiica. In examining these issues, the thesis deploys the principal sources and methods of intemational law. 111
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:559763 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Odinkalu, Chidi Anselm |
| Publisher | London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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