The Prohibition of Torture and Ill-treatment in the African Human Rights System: A HANDBOOK FOR VICTIMS AND THEIR ADVOCATES Under the AU Constitutive Act, numerous supranational governance structures have been added to the institutional design of the OAU. Since its inception, the AU has established a Peace and Security Council (PSC), a Pan-African Parliament (PAP), an Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) and accorded a significant role to the ambassadors of the Member States based in Addis Ababa, in the form of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC). The PSC exists to respond on a continuous basis to conflicts in Africa and to advise the AU Assembly on matters pertaining to peacekeeping and possible intervention. The PAP and ECOSOCC are deliberative organs; the PAP consisting of members of parliament from the AU Member States and ECOSOCC of civil society organisations. At this stage, the PAP only has advisory powers, but its mandate includes oversight of activities of the AU executive. The PRC meets much more regularly than the Assembly or the Executive Council and plays an increasingly important role in exploring issues in greater depth and in preparing the agenda of the Executive Council. The main human rights bodies are the African Commission, established under the African Charter, the main human rights treaty in the African system, and the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights. Their main features are now discussed. II. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights The African Charter21 is the premier instrument governing the protection of human rights on the African continent.22 The Charter was adopted by the OAU in Nairobi, Kenya in June 1981 and entered into force five years later, on 21 October 1986. In March 1999, the African Charter attained full ratification by all African States, with 21 22 22 African Charter, supra note 9. Since the adoption of the Charter, African States have concluded other treaty instruments for the protection of human rights in Africa, including the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU on 11 July 1990, Kampala, Uganda,, entered into force on 29 November 1999, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 [hereinafter ‘ACRWC’]; the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted by the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU on 9 June 1998, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, OAU/LEG/AFCHPR/PROT (III), reprinted in 6 International Human Rights Reports 891 [hereinafter ‘African Human Rights Court Protocol’], reproduced in full in Annex 3; and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted by the 2nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, 11 July 2003, Maputo, Mozambique, Assembly/AU/Dec. 14(II) [hereinafter ‘African Women’s Rights Protocol’].