Oji Umozurike is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

, activist and a former chairman of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, an organ of the inoperative

Organisation of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; french: Organisation de l'unité africaine, OUA) was an intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 signatory governments. One of the main heads for OAU's ...

."Nigerian professor elected chairman of African human rights commission". The Xinhua General Overseas News Service, NOVEMBER 7, 1989. He is currently a professor of law at the Abia State University.

Human Rights

Prof Oji Umozurike was a commissioner of the African Human Rights Commission from 1989 to the mid-1990s. As a member of the commission, he worked hard in promoting

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

in the continent. He tried to institute a public day of support and celebration on human rights of Africans across the continent and the promotion of human rights

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

in Schools, he was also open and fair in its duties, visiting all countries assigned to him as commissioner including speaking in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

during the inauguration of its

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Commission on Human Rights. However, he was less critical on matters affecting

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

restriction of human rights of Africans, mostly because he favoured a balance between the local human right laws and the African and International human rights norms. Nevertheless, this was partly a legacy of the organisation. When

OAU The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; french: Organisation de l'unité africaine, OUA) was an intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 signatory governments. One of the main heads for OAU's ...

was formed in the 1960s, inclusive in its mission was to respect the

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

of members against international manoeuvres, this was due to the rise in

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

and campaign against

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

during the period. Since then, the organisation for a large part of its existence before it became defunct favoured less promotion of overriding and binding regional or international laws on its members. Due to its mission and because of the mindset of member states to hold on their national laws, the commission was severely criticised as incapable of promoting human rights in Africa. Umozurike's view during his tenure was not far from the organisation's desire, he held the belief that the commission's human rights charter though powerful is merely a paper tiger, as discretionary powers still concentrate in national or sovereign entities.Malcolm D. Evans, Rachel Murray, ''The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: The System in Practice, 1986-2000''. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umozurike, Oji Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of Abia State University