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4 Afr. Hum. Rts. L.J. 74 (2004)
African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption: A Critical Appraisal

handle is hein.journals/afrhurlj4 and id is 80 raw text is: AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAW JOURNAL
The African Union Convention
on Preventing and Combating
Corruption: A critical appraisal
Kolawole Olaniyan*
Legal Adviser (Africa), International Law and Organisations Programme,
Amnesty International, London
Summary
This article analyses the Convention on Preventing and Combating
Corruption that was adopted at the African Union summit in Maputo in July
2003. While recognising that the Convention represents a significant step in
the efforts to counteract corruption across Africa, the author argues that the
strong link between corruption and the violation of human rights is not
sufficiently emphasised in the Convention. The Convention also suffers from
excessive use of claw-back clauses and lacks a serious and effective
mechanism for holding states accountable. The author suggests that the
Convention should be amended to become a protocol to the African Charter
on Human and Peoples' Rights, thus bringing the provisions under the
supervision of the African Commission and the African Human Rights Court.
1 Introduction
The adoption by the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and
Government of the Convention on Preventing and Combating
Corruption (Anti-Corruption Convention)1 on 11 July 2003, marked an
LLB, BL (Lagos) LLM JSD (Notre Dame); KOlaniya@amnesty.org
African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, 11 July 2003, at
<http://www.africa-union.org/Officialdocuments/Treaties%20Conventions%/20
Protocols/Convention%20ono20Combatingo20Corruption.pdf>. For the drafting
history of the Anti-Corruption Convention, see eg K Olaniyan 'Introductory note to
African Union (AU): Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2004) 43
International Legal Materials 1.

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