Seeking the best system to protect human rights: should we follow the african cat or the inter-american lion?

En busca del mejor sistema para proteger los Derechos Humanos: ¿deberíamos seguir al gato africano o al león Interamericano?

This article represents an attempt to compare the leading positive assets and the major fragilities of the Inter-American and the African human rights systems, in the light of the activity of the Commission and the Court in both systems. The analysis – focused on the main human rights instruments for both regions – is articulated in two sections, in their turn structured in multiple paragraphs. The first section explores the legal mandate of the bodies concerned. The second section examines the functioning in practice of such bodies, in the form of a review of how they use their legal mandate and what impact is concretely accomplished. Moreover, the article will discuss the pivotal influence of historical, social and other contextual factors, fundamental cornerstones of any consequential legal consideration on human rights systems.

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