comparative evaluation of contributions of the major regional human rights systems

Abstract

In the last decade much cynicism has enveloped the human rights landscape at the regional level. This is an offshoot of intense criticism and debate concerning the impact of the regional human rights system on the growth and development of international human rights and indeed the overall relevance of international human rights to the contemporary world order. While some believe that the regional system is inactive, ineffective and comatose, others insist that with structural and institutional overhaul, the system is in the best position to act as a catalyst to propel and sustain international observance of human rights in its best traditions. This research therefore provides a comparative evaluation of contributions of the major regional human rights systems, namely, the European, inter-American and African to the development of international human rights law and practice. The research which employs the doctrinal method provides an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of human rights legislations operating in the regions under study, their institutions and enforcement mechanisms. Among the major findings are that the negative and ubiquitous presence of claw-back clauses in the regional human rights legislations has the damaging impact of watering down the potency of those legislations and almost turning them into paper tigers. However, it is also discovered that each system though bedeviled by legislative, procedural and institutional bottlenecks that have been critically analyzed, has made unique input to the overall practice of international human rights ranging from comprehensiveness of legislations to greater emphasis on democratic governance. Hence the output of this research is intended to further strengthen the gains accomplished in this respect having clarified applicable laws on point and proposed amendments to extant legislations and their enforcement processes among them the employment of both Commissions and Courts in human rights promotion and protection; making the tenure of Commissioners and Judges full-time; and the standardization of claw-back clauses to attain objectivity.