CONSTITUTION

SS1 CRS

2nd Term

CONSTITUTION

The constitution is a document which contains all the basic principles and laws by which the state is governed. The two types of constitutions are written constitution and unwritten constitution. Everyone within the territory of the state is bound by the laws written in the constitution. This is to ensure orderliness in the state. From time to time, the constitution can be amended in order for the law to meet the demands of current realities.

(a) Nigeria: Nigeria has a written federal constitution which allows power to be shared among the central, state and local governments. Nigeria also practices presidential system of government in which the constitution separates powers among the three arms of government. This brings about checks and balance which prevents the government from violating the rights of the citizens.

(b) African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (also known as the Banjul Charter) is an international human rights instrument that is intended to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the African continent.

It emerged under the aegis of the Organization of African Unity which, at its 1979 Assembly of Heads of State and Government, adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a committee of experts to draft a continent-wide human rights instrument, similar to those that already existed in Europe (European Convention on Human Rights) and in the Americas (American Convention on Human Rights). This committee was duly set up, and it produced a draft that was unanimously approved at the OAU's 1981 Assembly. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights came into effect on 21 October 1986– in honour of which 21 October was declared "African Human Rights Day".

Oversight and interpretation of the Charter is the task of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, which was set up in 1987 and is now headquartered in Banjul, Gambia. A protocol to the Charter was subsequently adopted in 1998 whereby an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights was to be created. The protocol came into effect on 25 January 2004.

In July 2004, the AU Assembly decided that the ACHP would be incorporated into the African Court of Justice. In July 2005, the AU Assembly then decided that the ACHP should be operationalized despite the fact that the protocol establishing the African Court of Justice had not yet come into effect. Accordingly, the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, on 22 January 2006, elected the first judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The relationship between the newly created Court and the Commission is yet to be determined. As of 2016, 54 states have ratified the Charter. It has been ratified by every AU member state.

(c) UN universal declaration of human rights

One of the UN's primary purposes is to promote and encourage the respect for human rights for all individuals without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion, and member states pledge to undertake both “joint and separate actions” to protect these rights. In 1948, the General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document proclaims basic civil, political, and economic rights common to all human beings.