Half a century ago, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously
adopted two great covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), which brought force of law to the rights declared in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Both covenants have been widely ratified by the vast
majority of African States. However, a largely neglected area of study has been
assessing the influence of the ICESCR in various parts of the world including
Africa. This article assesses the influence of the ICESCR in Africa. It seeks to show
how the ICESCR, as interpreted by the United Nations Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has, through the 50 years since its adoption,
had influence on the regional and domestic protection of economic, social and
cultural rights (ESC rights) in Africa. The article begins by considering the influence
of the Covenant on the regional protection of human rights in Africa. This is
followed by an analysis of the influence of the Covenant on the protection of ESC
rights in domestic legal systems in Africa focusing primarily on the constitutional
protection of ESC rights. It then considers the limited influence of the Covenant on
national courts’ jurisprudence in African States applying dualist and monist
approaches to international treaties. It ends by making recommendations to maximize
the influence of the ICESCR in the future.

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• The Influence of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa