Monitoring implementation of the decisions and judgments of the African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

It is only relatively recently that attention has been paid to what happens post-decision or judgment of the African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and whether they actually result in any meaningful change on the ground. Our research on the implementation of their decisions and judgments reveals that the body monitoring implementation is expected to play various roles. While there has been some movement to establish processes and mechanisms at the regional level to monitor implementation of the decisions and judgments, the role that they adopt in monitoring implementation is confused and does not necessarily play to their respective strengths. Thirdly, perhaps because of this confused state of play, there is an impasse, certainly at the level of the African Commission, in developing further the monitoring of implementation. This article therefore concludes by proposing some pragmatic, low-cost solutions to move monitoring implementation forward on the continent.