This project examines and contributes to the development of institutions and processes to enhance the implementation of the reparations recommended and ordered in the decisions and judgments of the African Commission and African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

These African Human Rights Bodies (AHRBs), after finding violations of rights, recommend or order States to redress the harm to victims and survivors and prevent future violations through a broad range of reparations. This can include granting compensation, requiring the amendment and adoption of legislation, for individuals to be released from detention or retried, or ordering an apology from the State. 

Building on the findings of the ESRC Human Rights Implementation Project  (https://www.bristol.ac.uk/law/hrlip/) Professor Rachel Murray has been working to address some of the administrative, legal and institutional challenges faced by State authorities, human rights litigators, civil society, and African Human Rights Bodies in implementing these rulings and recommendations. 

This has culminated in Professor Murray being part of an expert team, including the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, to draft a Model Law on the Implementation of Decisions of African Human Rights Bodies, by the Pan-African Parliament.

Together with the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, Professor Murray also acts as amicus before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Application 006/2012, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v Republic of Kenya, (https://www.african-court.org/cpmt/details-case/0062012) specifically with respect to the reparations awarded and the Court’s subsequent monitoring of their implementation. 

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is in the process of developing internal systems to monitor the implementation of its decisions including, among others, how to gather evidence, how to engage with the State authorities and others, and how to draft its own recommendations to facilitate implementation. 

A litigants group engaged with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is also in conversation on how to support the Commission in monitoring and holding States accountable for harm caused.

The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adopted Guidelines on Reparations at its 45th session in April 2025. These were drafted by Professor Murray. 

Why Implementation of Human Rights Judgments Matter Today - Open Society Justice Initiative

Research Handbook on Implementation of Human Rights in Practice

Guide.pdf

African-Human-Rights-Yearbook-2017-Volume-1.pdf, R Murray, D Long, V Ayeni & A Somé ‘Monitoring implementation of the decisions and judgments of the African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ (2017) 1 African Human Rights Yearbook 150-166 http://doi.org/10.29053/2523-1367/2017/v1n1a8

Special Issue of the Journal of Human Rights Practice: Volume 12 Issue 1 | Journal of Human Rights Practice | Oxford Academic

Other related outputs by the rest of the team: Outputs | University of Bristol Law School | University of Bristol