ABSTRACT
The African Union (AU) has since 2002 worked to embed notions of human security at the centre of what has commonly been referred to as the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the continental framework used in the maintenance of peace and security in Africa. The chapter argues that while much progress has been attained in developing the promise of providing greater levels of protection to civilian populations affected and targeted by violent conflict, much work remains to ensure that this promise is turned into practice, and that Africa's most vulnerable populations are better protected at their time of greatest need. The protection of civilians in conflict zones in many ways is inherent in the AU Constitutive Act, and as such is embedded, though implicitly, in the APSA. More specifically, the protection of civilians is firmly embedded in several AU human rights protocols and conventions.
