History

Established by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights which came into force on 21 October 1986 after its adoption in Nairobi (Kenya) in 1981 by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU.), the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is charged with ensuring the promotion and protection of Human and Peoples' Rights throughout the African Continent. The Commission has its headquarters in Banjul, The Gambia.

For almost two decades after the creation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in May 1963, the focus of the Organisation remained almost entirely the decolonisation of the continent and the eradication of apartheid. In spite of tbe Organisation's endorsement of the principles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights of 1948 in the preamble of the OAU Charter, the promotion and protection of human rights within OAU members states was not a major priority. As such, it concentrated its efforts on political and economic independence, non-discrimination and the liberation of Africa through the eradication of colonialism on the continent and apartheid in Southern Africa, at the expense of individual liberty.

In the early days of its existence, different groups which included the Media, the Church, inter-governmental and non-government organisations (NGOs) mounted pressure on the OAU by exposing some of the most gruesome human rights abuses on the continent.

They accused the Organisation of abandoning its primary goal of restoring dignity to the humiliated African peoples. It was accused of double standards for condemning apartheid in South Africa while failing to condemn the massive human rights violations committed by some of its own members.

At the same time, the said pressure groups were encouraging the establishment of a human rights protection mechanism on the continent. Thus, starting from the 1961 Lagos Conference organised by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to the 1979 UN sponsored Monrovia Seminar on the Establishment of Regional Commissions on Human Rights with Special Reference to Africa, pressure and assistance were simultaneous to ensure that the OAU and its leaders uphold the spirit that motivated the struggle for political independence - to restore to the African peoples their dignity lost during slave trade and colonial eras - a cause for which they won international sympathy and support.