41. The legislative measures for the realization of the duty to respect should
include internationally acceptable expropriation rules with the necessary
safeguards to protect individuals and local people from arbitrary State
actions or decisions that may lead to arbitrary land dispossession or
deprivation, which should include the prohibition of expropriation for uses
other than a public purpose. In addition, legislative measures should provide
for the process to be applied and the standards to be followed in cases of
expropriation or resettlement including consultation with affected members
of society, provision of due notice, the payment of adequate compensation
and support for rehabilitation. Furthermore, it should ensure that the
standards, which apply to compensation to be paid by local companies,
should not in any way be to the detriment of the affected people.
42. Derived from the right of peoples to live on, access, develop and use the
land, vegetation, water sources and the aquatic resources on which they
depend for their survival and livelihoods, there is a corresponding duty on
the State to ensure that there is a legal framework in place which ensures
protection of land and resource ownership rights by the people, even if
they do not have formal title over the land or in the case of collective
ownership. In this regard it is necessary to also take account of the often
more precarious nature of land ownership by women in Africa.
43. Also in relation to the duty to respect is the obligation on States to respect
the ability of other African States to deliver the same to their people, as
derived from the obligation of States to collectively exercise the right to free
disposal of wealth and natural resources.
44. With respect to the right to a general satisfactory environment, the duty
to respect entails that the State should not interfere unnecessarily with
the enjoyment by people of this right. In this context again, the issue of
consultation and participation of the affected persons is crucial. In addition,
the State should have due regard to the cultural and natural heritage and
sacred sites of peoples and communities.21
45. The second is the duty to protect. In the context of Articles 21 and 24
of the African Charter, the obligations of the State include putting in
place internationally acceptable standards on environmental protection, on
financial responsibilities in relation to the development of natural resources,
32 | African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights