A/HRC/39/58 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and enjoy a high degree of independence from their respective Governments. The States can also file State-to-State complaints and in extreme cases even demand expulsion for flagrant and systematic violations of the Convention. The decisions of the Court create binding legal obligations for the State concerned.2 The European Social Charter, which addresses economic and social rights, is subject to quasi-judicial enforcement. Insofar as they refer to legally binding treaty provisions, the decisions and conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights — the monitoring body established by the treaty — must be respected by the States concerned, even if they are not directly enforceable in domestic legal systems. They set out the law and can provide the basis for positive developments in social rights through legislation and case law at national level.3 Other important organizations for the protection and promotion of human rights in Europe include the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 6. The Inter-American human rights mechanism dates back to the approval of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man by the Organization of American States (OAS) in April 1948. The Declaration brought about the adoption of the OAS Charter and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was established in 1959 to enhance the implementation of human rights protections among the 35 OAS member States. Following the adoption of the American Convention on Human Rights in 1969, the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights was established in 1979. The Commission monitors the implementation of human rights by member States by making country visits, publishing country and thematic reports and carrying out on-site visits. It also has a quasi-judicial function in that it can interpret human rights instruments created by the OAS and makes non-legally binding recommendations on individual complaints. Individual applications can be lodged with the Commission based on the Declaration or the Convention. 4 All cases go through the Commission but only those OAS member States that have ratified the Convention and accepted the jurisdiction of the Court can be brought before it. Some other regional human rights treaties, such as the Inter-American Conventions to Prevent and Punish Torture, on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women and on Forced Disappearance of Persons, and the Additional Protocol to the Convention in the Area of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (San Salvador Protocol) also allow for individual petitions to be lodged before the Commission.5 7. The African human rights mechanism emerged as a response to the challenges of decolonization, racial discrimination, environmental protection and refugees. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights was adopted in 1981 and came into force in 1986. In accordance with the Charter, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was set up in 1987. The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights was established by a protocol to the Charter in 1998, came into force in 2004 and was operational in 2006. As of September 2016, the African Charter had been ratified by 54 of the 55 member States of the African Union, the exception being South Sudan, and nearly half of the member States have ratified the Protocol to the Charter. 6 The Commission accepts individual and State complaints or communications based on the Charter, while the Court on may receive applications either from the Commission, States parties to the Protocol, or African intergovernmental organizations. Non-governmental organizations with observer status before the Commission and individuals from States which have made a declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the Court can also institute cases directly before the Court, but only six African Union member States have accepted the competence of the Court to handle 2 3 4 5 6 4 See European Court of Human Rights, “The EHCR in 50 Questions” (February 2014), available at www.echr.coe.int/documents/50questions_eng.pdf. For more details, see www.coe.int/en/web/turin-european-social-charter/about-the-charter. See International Justice Resource Center, “Inter-American human rights system”, available from www.ijrcenter.org/regional/inter-american-system/. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “The Organization of American States”, available from www.oas.org/en/iachr/mandate/basic_documents.asp. Other important institutions in the context of the African Union include the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Pan-African Parliament.