Source: News Fulton County
African Union Commission leader says advances are at risk from 'enormous challenges'

Africa risks backsliding on human rights if it does not address the challenges it faces, the head of the African Union Commission (AUC) said Wednesday.

"Despite all the efforts to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in Africa, including women's rights, the continent continues to face enormous challenges, which if not urgently and adequately addressed, may erase the human rights gains recorded over the preceding decades," AUC Chairwoman Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement.

Zuma's comments came on African Human Rights Day, which is this year themed around women's empowerment.

Zuma said armed conflicts were the main cause of human rights violations, mostly affecting women and children, as well as corruption, bad governance and disregard for the rule of law.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, there are 11 armed conflicts currently taking place on the continent.

Inadequate resources for human rights groups, insufficient political will and governments' unwillingness to permit international monitoring were other reasons for violations, Zuma added.