Volume 3 Contents

Articles
1. State of Necessity as a Justification for Internationally Wrongful Conduct by Roman Boed
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2. Toward the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights: Better Late than Never by Nsongurua J. Udombana
   
   The African human rights system has long stood apart from its European and Inter-American counterparts by the conspicuous absence of a regional human rights court. On June 9, 1998, accompanied by great elation in the African and international communities, the initial steps to install an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights successfully came to a close. On that date, thirty African States signed a Protocol to the Banjul Charter providing for the establishment of the long-awaited Court. Professor Udombana of Nigeria describes the urgent need for a human rights court in Africa, the arguments that have historically stood in its way, and the decades-long process of establishing the Court. In so doing, he highlights the shortcomings of the Organization of African Unity and the African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights, which have failed to act as effective instruments for the protection of human right in the continent. Udombana argues that Africans must ensure that the new Court is not handicapped with the same deficiencies and weaknesses that have beset its predecessors. He highlight the key features of the new Court, identifies the obstacles that it faces, and suggests proposals for strengthening the newly established organ. While recognizing that the Court will not be a panacea to the widespread human rights problems in the region, Professor Udombana argues forcefully that the establishment of the Court is an essential step in the historic process of ensuring human rights to all Africans, restoring confidence in the region's institutions, and entrenching the understanding that African governments may be held accountable for their domestic actions on the international plane. The African human rights court, the author concludes, has been long in coming, but is better late than never.
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3. Guatemala's Peace Accords in a Free Trade Area of the Americas by Gus Van Harten
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   New Developments
4. The World Bank's Draft Comprehensive Development Framework and the Micro-Paradigm of Law and Development by Richard Cameron Blake
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5. Debt Relief in 1999: Only One Step on a Long Journey by Eric A. Friedman
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