Protecting Human Rights in Africa is the first major comparative study of how human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have brought revolutionary change south of the Sahara. Governments are both the most important protectors and abusers of human rights, while NGOs have become the most effective detectives in discovering abuses and the most active advocates in seeking solutions.

Claude E. Welch, Jr. has differentiated this book from most publications in this field by concentrating on a grassroots-up approach rather than a state-centered one, by including vignettes of organizations exemplifying the major strategies, and by providing lively, detailed analyses of crucial human rights issues in tropical Africa.

Among the major topics examined are female genital mutilation, systematic discrimination against ethnic groups, authoritarian rule, widespread impoverishment, and absence of legal aid. Through close attention to NGOs based in Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, and Senegal, Protecting Human Rights in Africa charts the reasons for their successes, and failures, in protecting human rights.