By Ashley Collins, AIUSA Multilateral Affairs Fellow
Globally, we are at a defining moment for the “rules-based international system” and the role the United States plays in it. Despite lip service to inclusivity and global human rights, the response of the United States and its partners to global crises continues to reveal a double standard. In order to address these reasonable criticisms, the U.S. must re-invest in and re-imagine multilateralism, along with its partnerships with the Global South. One way that it can do so is through a renewed partnership with the African Union (AU).
Urge Congress to expand the arms embargo to protect civilians in Sudan.
The African Union’s Role in Advancing Human Rights
The African Union (AU) remains critical in advancing human rights on the continent.
The AU outlines the role it should play in promoting and protecting human rights in its foundational documents, including the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well as the mandates of several judicial and legal organs of the AU.
Moreover, the AU’s strategic framework for the continent, Agenda 2063, also incorporates respect for human rights as a core aspiration for countries in the region. The advancement of human rights is therefore a foundational element of the framework of the African Union, and as such, should be a focus of U.S. engagement.
Despite human rights being central to the foundation of the AU, it has faced challenges and criticism of its work, including on human rights.
Many critiques note that the AU has proven hesitant to act on justice and accountability for human rights abuses and that it has been slow to implement accountability mechanisms even where there is AU support for such measures. For example, there have been significant delays in the implementation of legally binding commitments to create the Hybrid Court for South Sudan.
Other critiques of the AU have generally focused on how it has been ineffective in preventing and resolving conflicts in the region – such as those in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo– further perpetuating human rights abuses. While some of the AU’s difficulties are structural and political in nature, many challenges could be addressed through increased capacity-building and technical assistance, as well as improved support from its partners, including the United States.
Opportunities for U.S. Policy Changes
A commitment to meaningful and supportive engagement with the AU with human rights at the heart is an important step in the right direction.
As a part of my fellowship on human rights and multilateral affairs at Amnesty International USA, I have just published a policy paper outlining the opportunities for U.S.-Africa policy to evolve in a way that builds a consistent and credible partnership with the African Union and makes human rights the guiding principle of this relationship.
The U.S. should recognize both the value and limitations of the AU, but it should seek to work through these challenges by focusing its efforts on strengthening the mechanisms best placed to advance solutions to human rights challenges in the region.
The United States should most urgently:
- Work with AU actors to identify human rights needs and the kinds of technical assistance that could be responsive to those needs.
- Help strengthen existing AU human rights mechanisms – including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and other human rights-focused legal organs of the AU – which face challenges with compliance with their decisions and judgments.
- Support the African Peace and Security Architecture with investments to ensure that human rights are part of conflict resolution efforts.
- Find ways to formally and regularly consult with African civil society working to advance human rights in their communities.
The current global context, including mounting human rights crises, requires robust multilateral approaches. The U.S. needs its foreign policy to be grounded in both human rights and multilateralism.