Raising the bar on rights in Africa

Africa’s Foreign Ministers meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are today expected to agree on a draft charter setting out new benchmarks on democracy, good governance and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. The draft charter outlines measures required to entrench these values and hence foster democracy and the rule of law in Africa. The charter sets out a new threshold against which Africa’s governments can be judged through existing mechanisms which regularly audit their performance such as the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) or those charged with arbitrating violations of rights such as the Africa Court on Human Rights.