This Article argues that the Article 60 power of the African Commission pro-vides a structural advantage over the Inter-American Court in the interpretation and protection of collective rights because it enhances capacity for judicial dialogue and the incorporation of jurisprudence from other jurisdictions. The Article examines the capacity of the Inter-American and African human rights systems by examining two foundational cases. In Sawhoyamaxa Community v. Paraguay (2006), the Inter-American Court interpreted Article 21 of the American Convention to include a right to collective property within a framework that is prima facie focused on individual rights. In contrast, in Endorois v. Kenya (2009), the African Commission was able to rely on the African Charter’s explicit inclusion of collective peoples’ rights. Moreover, the African Commission in Endorois draws on the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court, citing Sawhoyamaxa and other collective rights case law from the Inter- American system. In doing so, the African Commission was not simply buttressing its argument, but using its Article 60 power to draw on non-African sources of international law in order to assist it in more clearly articulating the concept of collective rights that remained inchoate in the Charter.

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