Guide to an effective human rights response to the HIV epidemic

G. The African human rights system
and the HIV epidemic
Section G introduces the various AU mechanisms, including the African Peer Review Mechanism,
and examines the relevant regional documents for HIV and human rights.
A criticism of the UN’s human rights instruments is
that they focus too much on individual rights, without
examining the rights of the collective. While reflecting
the universality of human rights, the AU
human rights instruments, take into account the
rights of groups, as much as the rights of individuals.
• The African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights (African Charter)
• The Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights
of Women in Africa (Women’s Protocol)
• The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare
of the Child (African Children’s Charter).
These instruments were developed by African states
and recognise the importance of the collective in
African societies.
These treaties provide, among others, for the rights
to equality, dignity, security and health. They also
give a central place to the principle of the best
All the states in the region are members of the AU.
interest of the child.
Similar to the UN system, the AU has various human
rights documents to which states become parties.
The following table shows the status of ratification
of the major treaties and the submission of reports
In addition, the AU system allows for scrutiny of a
to the treaty bodies. 17
state’s human rights record when states become
parties to the African Human Rights Court and the
African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
The AU treaties, African Human Rights Court and
the APRM will be discussed in detail below.
AU treaties
At the regional level there are three main binding
human rights treaties that apply to the HIV epidemic:
17 The status of ratification is available from www.africa-union.org and www.achpr.org.
32 | Guide to an effective human rights response to the HIV epidemic