1981 (in force 1986) · Charters, declarations and treaties

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

Africa

The main human-rights treaty of the African Union, which lists individual rights and also the rights of peoples and duties of individuals.

Why it matters

It is distinctive in recognising the rights of 'peoples', including a right to development, and in putting duties alongside rights.

Built on

1948

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

United Nations

took the Declaration's list of individual rights

Went on to shape

No later text on this timeline is recorded as built on it.

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TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.