Selected developments in human rights and democratisation in Africa during 2020

Abstract

The unexpected outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on democracy, constitutionalism and human rights in Africa. Many executive and legislative officials used the pandemic as a powerful excuse to postpone elections without making significant efforts to seek consensus among affected stakeholders as required by human rights instruments. This descent towards tokenistic constitutionalism has gone hand in hand with two types of unconstitutional changes of government, namely the coup d’état in Mali and third-termism in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, which together show how the commitment to constitutionalism remains elusive in many countries. Meanwhile, the African Union human rights bodies swiftly devised alternative means to hold their sessions online as it became clear that physical meetings were not possible. The African Commission and the African Court made significant progress in fulfilling their mandates in 2020, for example by revising their rules of procedure to include cutting-edge issues and adopting soft law instruments. These instruments provided significant guidance to state parties in order for their COVID-19 related measures and actions to comply with the African Charter. This article highlights developments in human rights and democratisation in Africa during 2020. The article begins with a discussion of two forms of unconstitutional change of government sanctioned by the African Democracy Charter, before turning to trends in the postponement of elections in many African countries and their implications on constitutionalism. The article then discusses developments within the African Commission and the African Court. The article concludes by arguing that, while the African Commission and the African Court made significant efforts to find innovative ways to fulfil their human rights mandates amid the pandemic, a number of African countries descended into symbolic democracy and constitutionalism.