The African Union and the Advancement of Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-91
Author(s):  
Adem K Abebe ◽  
Charles M Fombad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
African Union ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Governmental Power ◽  
Venice Commission ◽  
Coups D'etat

The African Union (AU) has as one of its goals the promotion and protection of democracy, human rights, and constitutionalism. A critical element of this goal is the rejection of unconstitutional changes of government (UCG), particularly in the form of coups d’état. While there have been some inconsistencies, the AU has rejected coups d’état and called for the reinstatement of democratic dispensations. Nevertheless, the UCG framework has been unable to stem subtler mechanisms of retaining power, such as the suspension of elections or the imposition of ostensibly proper constitutional reform initiatives. This chapter calls for increased attention to the latter forms of extending governmental power. Specifically, it recommends the establishment of formal mechanisms through which the AU can engage directly and offer assistance at moments when reform proposals are debated so as to ensure that domestic actors take cognizance of both the relevant AU frameworks and the comparative continental and global experience. Such a mechanism would be comparable in its workings to the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

5. Regional protection of human rights

2019 ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
Rhona K. M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
African Union ◽  
Organization Of American States ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Regional Systems ◽  
American States ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

This chapter examines the rationale behind developing regional protection of human rights. It discusses the advantages of regional systems then overviews the three principal regional systems that promote human rights: the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe, and the African Union, before outlining other regional initiatives.

scholarly journals The Council of Europe’s Responses to the Decay of the Rule of Law and Human Rights Protections: A Comparative Appraisal

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Başak Çalı ◽  
Esra Demir-Gürsel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
European Court ◽  
Institutional Features ◽  
Venice Commission

Abstract This article introduces the Special Issue on ‘The Responses of the Council of Europe to the Decay of the Rule of Law and Human Rights Protections’. The Council of Europe (CoE), a unique international organisation with its commitment to protect and promote human rights, the rule of law, and democracy, has been severely tested by the spread and consolidation of trends posing systemic threats to its foundational goals. The authors of this Special Issue assess how the European Court of Human Rights, the Venice Commission, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers, and the office of the Secretary General have addressed systemic threats to the foundational principles of the organisation in the last decade. The Special Issue finds that the respective legal-institutional features and capacities of the CoE organs as well as the constraining influence of the broader political context in Europe on them vary significantly, hampering the CoE’s ability to produce timely, consistent, and co-ordinated responses against systemic threats.

Right to Free Elections: Emerging Guarantees or Two Layers of Protection?

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey Golubok
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Venice Commission ◽  
The Right ◽  
Further Development

The article analyses the drafting history and background of the ‘political clause’ of the European Convention on Human Rights – Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 which provides for the right to free elections. It discusses main concepts developed by the Strasbourg Court's jurisprudence concerning that clause. Special attention is devoted to the new trends in the case-law, including gradual emergence of procedural obligations under Article 3, its interplay with other substantive provisions of the Convention, the influence of the ‘soft-law’ instruments emanating from other organs of the Council of Europe, primarily texts of the Venice Commission. In conclusion, two options regarding further development of the Court's case-law on the right to free elections are proposed: the avenue of newly emerging guarantees and the avenue of two (narrower and wider) layers of protection.

70 Years of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
70Th Anniversary ◽  
Present Condition ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Venice Commission

The years of 2019 and 2020 offered the opportunity to commemorate four anniversaries: On 4 November 2020, it was 70 years ago that the ECHR, was signed. Ten years later, the ECtHR began its work. The Council of Europe had its 70th anniversary on 5 May 2019. Finally, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) established in 1990, could celebrate its 30th birthday. These jubilees offer a good reason to take a look at how these institutions have contributed to making human rights and the rule of law a matter of common interest in Europe, and what their present condition is. This volume contains the contributions on this topic held at the Walter-Hallstein Symposium on 5 and 6 March 2020. With contributions by Veronika Bílková, Thomas Giegerich, Rainer Hofmann, Stefan Kadelbach, Wilfried Loth, Angelika Nußberger, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque and Stefanie Schmahl.

6. Regional protection of human rights

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhona K. M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
African Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Regional Systems ◽  
American States ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

This chapter examines the rationale behind developing regional protection of human rights. It discusses the advantages of regional systems then overviews the three principal regional systems that promote human rights: the Organisation of American States, the Council of Europe, and the African Union, before outlining other regional initiatives.

Transnational militant democracy

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
ULRICH WAGRANDL
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Transnational Democracy ◽  
The Eu

Abstract:Ordinarily, militant democracy is about restricting the rights of those who threaten to overthrow the very democracy that guarantees these rights. Hence, militant democracy permits the defence of democracy by disarming its opponents. Turkey’s recent constitutional reform, which arguably is a move away from liberal democracy, forces militant democracy to face up to its transnational application. Can we use militant democracy’s tools to defend not our own, but another democracy? Maybe we can and even should. This article examines the two transnational manifestations of militant democracy. The first is ‘transnational democracy gone militant’, epitomised by the European Union (EU)’s power to enforce liberal democratic standards in its Member States. The second is ‘militant democracy gone transnational’. This manifestation permits treating people rallying in the EU to attack democracy abroad in the same manner in which we are permitted to treat opponents of ‘our own’ democracy. As long as we are dealing with members of the Council of Europe (CoE), the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) gives us the instruments we need. Generally, militant democracy is a militant liberal democracy, which is not neutral towards itself, but is also an opponent of every system that is antithetical to it.

Book IV Multilateral Diplomacy, Human Rights, and International Organizations, 23 Other International and Regional Organizations: Commonwealth, NATO, Council of Europe, OAS, AU, ASEAN, CIS, Francophonie, Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Gulf Cooperation Council, OSCE

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberts Ivor
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Gulf Cooperation Council ◽  
African Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
The North ◽  
American States ◽  
Arab League ◽  
Multilateral Diplomacy

This chapter explores other pertinent international and regional organizations not explored in Chapter 20. These are: the Commonwealth, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States (OAS), the African Union (AU), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Francophonie, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). These organizations are formed with myriad goals in mind: for economic and trade purposes, for exercising human rights, for ensuring security, among others. The organizations explored in this chapter also encompass a diverse set of regions and geographies. Each organization is discussed here in terms of its structures, influence, historical backgrounds, membership, and functions.

The Council of Europe Addresses Cia Rendition and Detention Program

2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 442-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Hakimi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Member States ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Venice Commission

In November 2005, the U.S. media reported that the Central Intelligence Agency was operating secret detention facilities in a handful of foreign countries, including two in eastern Europe, and that detainees were often transferred between those facilities and states known to engage in torture. The news that terrorism suspects may have been denied their human rights in member states of the Council of Europe caused concern within the Council and triggered several responses. Within days of the media reports, the Council's Parliamentary Assembly appointed a rapporteur to investigate the extent to which member states were participating in the CIA program. The rapporteur, in turn, asked the Venice Commission to prepare a legal opinion on the member states’ related international obligations. On the basis of that opinion, and the rapporteur's finding that a fair number of member states had acquiesced or participated in the CIA program, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution and a recommendation intended to safeguard against such conduct in the future. Separately, the secretary general of the Council invoked his authority under Article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to survey member states on relevant aspects of their domestic legal systems, including whether those systems contain controls on foreign state conduct deemed to infringe ECHR rights.

scholarly journals Kosovo’s Quest for Council of Europe Membership

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-273
Author(s):  
Kushtrim Istrefi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Development Bank ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
European Court ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Government ◽  
Venice Commission ◽  
Direct Applicability

In 2014, Kosovo became a member of two Council of Europe (CoE) partial agreements: on the Development Bank and on the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission). More recently, the Government of Kosovo expressed an interest in joining the CoE. This article examines, in the context of Kosovo’s contested statehood, the conditions and procedure for Kosovo’s possible admission to the CoE and describes, in the form of an early warning, the key legal and policy issues that could arise in this process. Insofar as membership criteria are concerned, the article examines Kosovo’s ability to exercise jurisdiction over its territory. In this regard, the case of Azemi v. Serbia before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Strasbourg Court) and the EU-facilitated agreements between Belgrade and Pristina are considered. In addition, the article argues that that the direct applicability of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the ECtHR’s case law in Kosovo are evidence of Kosovo’s commitment to fulfilling one of the essential membership criteria. Regarding Kosovo’s prospects for admission, the article submits that the recognition of Kosovo by more than two-thirds of the Council’s member states is an indicator that, in principle, Kosovo could ensure the votes necessary for admission. However, it also highlights the specific challenges Kosovo may encounter in its membership path due to complex admission procedures within the CoE Committee of Ministers and the composition of the members of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

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