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National Human Rights Institutions have increased in number since the General Assembly adopted principles governing their effectiveness in 1993. This book examines these institutions in the African region, the way in which they use the international and regional fora, the effectiveness of their contributions and how they are able to participate

Although breastfeeding is a natural physiological process that has sustained our existence for thousands of years, today mothers face a plethora of barriers that "make it difficult and sometimes impossible for women to breastfeed in the UK" (Unicef, 2018). These barriers include access to support, aggressive marketing of formula, lack of education, socio-economic barriers and mothers' feelings of embarrassment (Ibid). On top of this, the politics of breastfeeding has become so complex that there are a myriad of cultural issues that those providing support to mothers have to navigate. Unicef believe we need an approach that recognises that, although mothers are the ones who will physically breastfeed, all of us can impact on breastfeeding. Therefore, if we are to try and solve the problem of breastfeeding we need to stop framing the issue as being the individual responsibility of mothers.

International human rights law advocates tolerance, inclusivity and the promotion of equality among peoples, nations and individuals across the world. It seems disappointing, therefore, that these standards do not always apply to the discipline of international human rights law itself. Instead there seems to be a hierarchy in the international human rights system. Others have written about such an approach in relation to different types of rights,1reflecting political power struggles.2This paper will consider whether African institutions are 'third generation' organs and perceived as of less value than others. It will argue that international human rights law has focused primarily on European and Western sources and neglected those from other jurisdictions. It has failed, therefore, to use African institutions, for instance, to provide examples of good practice, relying on them only as examples of what not to do. As Okafor and Agbakwa state, there is evidence of a one-way traffic, with Western scholars giving the impression that they feel they have little to learn from African institutions and their experiences: