The Right to Water under the African Human Rights System: Normative Foundations and Enforcement Challenges

Safe, sufficient water access remains a pressing human rights problem in Africa, where many people lack reliable access to water. This article primarily assesses the extent to which African regional human rights legal instruments enshrine water rights and evaluates how regional human rights bodies promote and enforce them. Therefore, the study explores the extent to which the right to water is entrenched in the African Charter-based framework, and appraises the jurisprudential developments and enforcement challenges affecting its realisation. To achieve these aims, the study utilizes a doctrinal and jurisprudential research approach, which relies on an analysis of primary regional human rights instruments and decisions of the African Commission and the African Court. The study found that although the water right is protected either explicitly or implicitly through the interpretation of related provisions, its enforcement is beset by various reasons.