Once you have knowledge about rights and you know how to monitor rights, the next question is: how do you use this knowledge to protect and promote rights?

There are different ways to do this:

• through human rights education - to give people knowledge about rights;

• developing and reforming domestic policies and laws that can be used to protect and promote rights.

• using the courts - taking cases involving human rights abuses to local, regional and international courts.

• using human rights mechanisms: referring cases to human rights mechanisms at local, regional and international levels.

So, you can see that there are various ways to enforce and protect human rights. In this introductory course we will look very briefly at the specific human rights mechanisms that can be used to protect and enforce rights.

Local, regional and international

Most situations involving abuses of rights will first be dealt with at local level. Provisions in the regional and international treaties, for example the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, stipulate that all remedies at local level should be exhausted before people refer cases of rights abuses to the regional or international committees.

So, you would only refer cases to regional and international mechanisms in the following situations:

• when all local remedies have been exhausted;
• if it is obvious that using local remedies would be unduly delayed;

• when domestic laws (laws made by your own country) do not protect certain rights whereas international and regional law does and your government has ratified these documents (see section on 'Signing and ratifying treaties');
• when the personal risk involved in taking action at a local level may be too great.

Local, regional and international: example

Supposing in your country people employ very young children, some as young as 10. But, you don't have a law that says people cannot employ children under a certain age.

However, the International Convention on the Rights of Children and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child say employing children under the age of 15 years is wrong.

So, if your country has ratified either of these conventions you can demand that the government follows its obligations under the convention by:

• passing a law to prohibit the employment of children under the age of 15 years, and
• taking legal action against people who employ children under the age of 15 years.

You can see why it is important to know what human rights laws and mechanisms exist in your own country. If you have this information you can use it to enforce and protect rights before thinking about using mechanisms at regional or international levels.

When you are dealing with a situation involving an abuse of rights you must first establish the following:

• What domestic laws apply to the situation?
• What international and regional human rights treaties apply?
• Has your country signed and ratified the treaty?
• What do the treaties say about the rights (norms of customary international law)?

No domestic law applicable

What happens in a particular situation where there is no domestic law to protect a certain right but it goes against rights contained in an international or regional document?

Read the following example, then consider the question you have just been asked.

What information do you think is important to Peter when he is planning action to protect the people who have been detained?

Peter must find out the following information:

• What do the domestic laws say?

The laws in this case say that the government has a right to suspend the right to a fair trial if a person is charged with an act of treason.

• If the government is acting within the powers granted to it by domestic law (as it is in this case), then what regional and international human rights treaties apply in this case?

The treaties that would apply in this case would be the African Charter (regional level) and ICCPR (international level). What are the specific articles that apply?

• Has his country ratified these treaties?

If so, then he should consider referring the case to the appropriate regional or international body.

This would be either: at regional level - African Commission on Human and Peoples' rights (AfCHPR); or at international level - the Human Rights Commission (HRC) (under the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).

What action could Peter take if the government was acting against the laws of the country?

Now look at the next screen for some ideas.

If the government was acting against the laws of the country, Peter would be able to refer the case to a local court or human rights body (if one existed). If Peter is still not satisfied with the outcome - if, for example, he believes the court was biased in its interpretation of the law - he can refer the case to a regional or international mechanism.

Note

It is important that you know what human rights mechanisms exist in your own country. If you are not sure about these contact a local human rights organisation and ask them for advice.

Local courts and international human rights law?

If a country has ratified a treaty, the principles in that treaty are required to become part of domestic law whether the country has to pass a separate law or whether the treaty automatically becomes law. All countries, regardless of their legal system, need to bring their laws in line with their treaty obligations.

We shall look at this more in the section on 'Rule of law'.