in addition to the international law of human rights there are number of regional instruments and mechanisms that have developed since the 1948 UN Declaration, including the European system, and the African system. Like the international human rights treaties there are varying degrees of state participation, which can be measured through an examination of ratification behavior. Figure 1.3 compares the mean ratification scores for the European convention for the Protection of Human rights, and Fundamental Freedoms, the American convention For the protection of human rights The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights As in the case of the main international instruments, the figure shows an increasing participation of states through ratification of these various regional instruments and a general pattern of convergence in complete participation of states from each of the tree regoins. Indeed as of 2004 all forty-five Council of Europe states have ratified the European Convention all