ABSTRACT
The fact that the African Charter, in addition to other human rights standards, is deemed applicable to asylum seekers is highly significant because it means at the very least that asylum seekers and refugees are entitled to basic rights and must be treated with dignity. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention on Refugees constituted an advance on existing international refugee law, setting a more generous legal standard, and has been described as creating 'an impressive normative framework'. The protection of human rights in Africa is based principally on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights adopted by the OAU in 1981. In light of subsequent developments elsewhere, particularly the EU, it seems fair comment to suggest that the African response, once pioneering, now lags behind the times. Although it seems worth reiterating that with the Kampala Convention Africa is again setting the pace.
