The Constitutive Act establishing the AU, which entered into force in May 2001, features human-rights issues prominently in the preamble in contrast to the OAU Charter, “the inclusion of human rights, the objectives and guiding principles of the Act is an important step toward anchoring human rights in the AU.

A Committee of Experts (Art. 32 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990) monitors the Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The first meeting of the Committee was held in 2002. It has a broad mandate to promote and protect the rights and welfare of the child (Art. 42 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990). Unlike the United Nations Committee, the Committee of Experts has competence to receive individual complaints which are to be dealt with confidentially (Art. 44 Art. 42 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990) though in line with the approach of the United Nations, reports of the Committee are to be widely disseminated.

The African Commission is the only organ specially created in 1981 for the purpose of verifying the implementation of the African Charter. Article 30 of the African Charter established the African Commission as an organ of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Although very much geared to promoting human and peoples’ rights, the Commission’s activities also entail protection; however, in this area, its role is in theory offset by the role played by the supreme body of the OAU, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, now the Assembly of the Union. in this section we will examine the organization, operation and function of the Commission as well as the procedural aspects relating to its activity for the protection of human and peoples’ rights.

The concepts of minorities and indigenous peoples are controversial under international law and politics.  The very difficulty arises from identifying with precision those people falling under the two categories and the extent of the rights and level of protection to be claimed. Owing to the difficulties surrounding the two notions, the purpose of this section will be limited to elaborating any existing legal norms relating to the two groups.