| This research seeks to explain the problem of compliance with human rights treaties in Commonwealth Africa through the examination of compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. In conducting the analysis, I found that the empirical realities could not be adequately explained by compliance theory; therefore, in this dissertation I conceive of compliance as processes of international and domestic legal and normative changes.; At the international level, the research focuses upon the United Nations (UN) process promulgating women and children's rights through treaties, and the impact that these treaties have had upon the case studies. I found that because the UN monitoring system did not impinge upon state sovereignty, the UN process induced only superficial changes and did little to advance effective treaty implementation in the three countries studied.; The inability of the international UN system to compel changes in these states means that treaty compliance is essentially a domestic process delineated by a state's political factors. In each country examined, political power is concentrated in the President. As a consequence, all important laws and policies, including treaty implementation, are determined by the President and the level of compliance tied to the President's personal interest in the treaty's subject matter. President Museveni's interest in the promotion of women and children's rights was the impetus behind Uganda's substantial progress in implementing the CRC and the CEDAW. This manifested in a comprehensive legal framework, institutional support, effective government-NGO collaboration, and resources allocations for treaty implementation. Obstacles to compliance still exist; however, they are related to the county's poverty and not the lack of political will. In contrast, in the cases of Ghana and Zambia where the Presidents were not interested in either the CEDAW or the CRC, the international treaty system engendered only superficial changes reflected in laws and policies that were not implemented. The dissertation concludes with recommendations to enhance state compliance with UN human rights treaties by forging more effective links between the international and domestic processes. |
