The challenge of trade union rights in Africa

A purely academic observer would probably find significant cause for optimism about the evolution of the trade union rights situation in Africa in the 1990’s, and about the observance of human rights more generally. The continent has lived under the sign of democratization since the beginning of the decade, and the extent of political transformation has been unprecedented and astonishing. Since 1989, at least 25 African nations have adopted entirely new constitutions or major constitutional reforms. To them may be added those countries - for so long an isolated minority - which already operated pluralist democratic systems and those, more numerous, which are still engaged in processes of transition and reform