Human Rights Under African Constitutions
Realizing the Promise for Ourselves

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (Edited by)

9780812236774

Hardback, published 16 January 2003

448 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg

"The contributors maintain that a well-informed citizenry is the most powerful (and likely only) force for creating the political will necessary to effect change at the national level. There is no sitting on the fence. . . . The fundamental belief here is that human rights will only be realized once the African people claim their rights, make them their own, and demand their respect." (Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights)

Some of the most massive and persistent violations of human rights occur in African nations. In Human Rights Under African Constitutions: Realizing the Promise for Ourselves, scholars from a wide range of fields present a sober, systematic assessment of the prospects for legal protection of human rights in Africa. In a series of detailed and highly contextual studies of Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda, experts seek to balance the socioeconomic and political diversity of these nations while using the same theoretical framework of legal analysis for each case study.
Standards for human rights protection can be realized only through direct and strong support from a nation's legal and political institutions. The contributors to this volume uniformly conclude that a well-informed and motivated citizenry is the most powerful force for creating the political will necessary to effect change at the national level. In addition to a critical evaluation of the current state of human rights protection in each of these African nations, the contributors outline existing national resources available for protecting human rights and provide recommendations for more effective and practical use of these resources.