38. Apart from incorporating the rights into national legislation, legislative
measures further include laying down effective and adequately resourced
mechanisms and institutions to supervise and enforce the necessary fiscal,
environmental, labor and human rights protection standards that give effect
to these rights. The “other measures” that States should take under Article
1 to give effect to these rights additionally include provision of relevant
administrative and judicial mechanisms for seeking remedies in cases of
violations. States are required to adopt national policies, strategies and
plans geared towards the realization of all the rights. These should be
accompanied by budgetary measures. These are the measures that make
available the required resources for the implementation of the legislative
and policy measures.
39. Complementing the obligations under Article 1, States are also regarded
as having the general obligation of advocating for the rights guaranteed.
This is stipulated under Article 25 of the African Charter. In this context,
the measures of relevance for purposes of Articles 21 and 24 are advocacy
works involving educational and awareness-raising activities, for example
through the incorporation of specific topics into the curriculum of law
studies, development studies, and international relations/political science
studies at tertiary level. In this regard, States should enable advocacy for
rights and that there should be protective measures in place for human rights
defenders and members of affected communities to exercise and advocate
for their rights, without fear of harassment, restriction, or barriers to justice.
40. In the SERAC case, the African Commission identified the specific
obligations arising from the provisions guaranteeing the rights in the Charter
as entailing duties of respect, protection, promotion and fulfillment. The
duty to respect imposes negative obligations on the State to refrain from
interfering in or causing interference in the rights guaranteed under Articles
21 and 24. This means that State agents or anyone acting on behalf of
the State or exercising public authority should avoid actions restricting or
curtailing the rights in these articles. In essence, these actors should exercise
care in the discharge of their responsibilities or in undertaking their activities
to avoid causing harm.
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