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African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was established as a legal entity by a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This Protocol was signed in June 1998 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by the African Heads of State. The court came into being only on 25 January 2005, with the ratification by fifteen member states. This Protocol was signed in June 1998 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by the African Heads of State. The court came into being only on 25 January 2005, with the ratification by fifteen member states. Its seat is in Arusha, Tanzania. There are two ways of taking legal action involving the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: through direct seizure, and through indirect seizure.

To date, the African Court did have the opportunity to deliver only one judgement in a concrete case of human rights violations.

Conceivable actions

Institutional relationship

For some time, the relationship between the Court and the Commission was not clear. However, two joint meetings regarding this issue have taken place in 2009. The two organs finally harmonised their interim rules of procedure and in particular points relating to

  • their complementarity,
  • the consultation mechanisms between the Court and the Commission,
  • their respective advisory opinion,
  • the seizure of the Court by the Commission,
  • representation of the Commission before the Court and
  • points relating to content of the application and the transfer of procedure to the case file to the Court by the Commission.

In 2004, the AU decided to integrate the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights with the African Court of Justice (ACJ) out of the concern for the growing number of AU institutions. The ACJ is yet not operational but it is intended to be the principal judicial organ of the AU. While the courts should be merged, the AU Commission recommended that the integrity of the jurisdiction of the two courts should be retained. The AU Commission recommended administering the protocols governing the two courts by way of special chambers, and by adopting a new protocol. This new protocol (“Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights”) was adopted by the AU Assembly of Heads of States and Governments, 15 countries need to ratify it before a merged court can come into force.

 

Additional information:

FIDH website - 10 keys to understand and use the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/COUR_AF_ANGLcadre.pdf  

 

References:

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Adopted in Ouagadougou in June 1998.
http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/court_en.html

As of 1 December 2009, the following 25 African States have ratified the Protocol:  

 

Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights
Adopted in Sharm-el-Sheikh on 1 July 2008.
http://www.african-court.org/fileadmin/documents/Court/Statute%20ACJHR/ACJHR_Protocol.pdf

As of 1 December 2009 only Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Mali have ratified the Protocol.

Last change: 12.01.10 - 15:03