Indigenous peoples in the African system of human rights protection: an analysis of the case-law of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

My thesis will be on the protection of indigenous peoples in Africa, and in particular it will focus on the work of the African Commission and of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the matter. Starting from an analysis of the composition of the African regional human rights system, I will then concentrate on the definition of the concept of ‘indigenous peoples’ and on the rights enshrined in international and regional human rights instruments applicable to them. In particular, I will provide an analysis of the African Commission’s interpretation of the African Charter in relation to indigenous peoples. Lastly, the thesis will investigate the related cases adjudicated by the African Commission and by the African Court, to try to understand which of the applicable rights where the two bodies able to protect and whether it is the collective or the individual dimension of indigenous peoples that prevails in Africa.