The Prohibition of Torture and Ill-treatment in the African Human Rights System: A HANDBOOK FOR VICTIMS AND THEIR ADVOCATES For most of the life of the OAU, the question of how Governments treated their nationals was regarded as a domestic matter over which other African Governments or institutions had little influence. The OAU’s narrow prohibition against ‘interference’ in the domestic affairs of Member States and Governments enabled many African Governments to persecute and eliminate their perceived opponents through torture and other summary and arbitrary means, without complaints from other African Governments. This complicit inaction was at its utmost in the 1970s when the continent saw the ascendancy of many brutal regimes. Thus African Governments failed to condemn the systematic elimination of opponents of the regimes of Idi Amin in Uganda, Jean Bedel Bokassa in Central African Republic, Sekou Toure in Guinea and Macias Nguema in Equatorial Guinea, while vocally condemning the violations in apartheid South Africa. Justifiable resentment both within and outside Africa against such double standards inspired the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.9 With the entry into force of the African Charter in 1986 and the establishment of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘African Commission’ or ‘The Commission’) in 1987, there came into existence a continental mechanism for monitoring the behaviour of African Governments in the treatment of their own people.10 At its 36th Ordinary Session in July 2000 in Lomé, Togo, the Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU adopted a new foundational treaty 9 10 20 Under these rules, there are two forms of consultative arrangements: observer status and a more specialised co-operation agreement. Only African NGOs may seek observer status with the OAU, unlike the more specialised co-operation agreement, which may also be concluded with non-African NGOs. In order to qualify for observer status, an NGO would have to show that its objectives and activities conform to the fundamental principles and objectives of the OAU, as elaborated in the Charter; that its is an African organisation, registered and headquartered in Africa; and that the majority of its membership is composed of Africans. It must also demonstrate that it has a secure financial basis and that the majority of its funding comes from African sources. Criteria for Granting OAU Observer Status as Amended by the Twenty-Ninth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, AHG/192, Rev. 1 (XXIX), Articles 1(a)-(c) (1993). An NGO wishing to apply for observer status must submit a written request to the Secretary General at least 6 months before the next meeting of the Council of Ministers and include its charter, rules and regulations, a current membership list, sources of funding, its last account balance, and a memorandum of the organization’s activities, past and present. For further discussion, refer to Part D, Section XII of this volume. Under the AU Constitutive Act, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) is the organ for organising civil society relations with the AU. The AU established its ECOSOCC in 2004. African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted 27 June 1981, entered into force on 21 October 1986, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, reprinted in 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982) [hereinafter ‘African Charter’, ‘the Charter’], reproduced in full in Annex 1 to this Handbook. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is established under Article 30 of the African Charter. It was inaugurated on 2 November 1987. See First Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 1987-88, ACHPR/RPT/1st, para. 4 [hereinafter ‘ACHPR’, ‘African Commission].