AFRICAN COURT NEEDS POWER

One of the participants of court reporting training, Friday Simbaya (R) holding his certificate awarded by Thomson Reuters Foundation during the training held in Arusha region, Tanzania from 23-27 March 2015. From left is Royston Matin and Brendan Boyle (C) who were the programme instructors.

Participants of Court Reporting Training held in Arusha, Tanzania from 23-27 March 2015 pose for the group photo when they visited the African Court on Human and People's Rights (AfHPR) yesterday for a familiarization tour to see how the court operates. (Photo by Brendan Boyle)

ARUSHA: The Assembly of Heads of States and Government of the African Union (AU) is requesting the AU commission, in consultation with the African Commission of Human People’s Rights (ACHPR) to assess the implications of extending the jurisdiction of the Court to try international crimes, such as genocides, crimes against humanity and war crimes and thereon submit a report to the assembly.

The consultation of extending the jurisdiction of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (AfCHPR) to deal with criminal matters started the way back in February 2009.

The Senior Legal and Communications Officer, Sukhdev Chhatbar said that to implement the decision of the Assembly, the African Union Commission has engaged a consultant to undertake a study on the implications of extending the jurisdiction of AfCHPR (yet to become operational), including considering whether unconstitutional change or prolongation of government, could be considered a new crime.

“The Draft Protocol with an extended mandate of the court is currently under consideration by AU Policy Organs,” said part of report made available to The Guardian on Sunday yesterday.

According the senior legal officer of court, the court at the moment has only two jurisdictions; contentious and advisory.

He elaborated further that in contentious jurisdiction, the court exercises jurisdictions over all cases and disputes submitted to it concerning the interpretation and application of the African Charter on Human and people’s Rights and other relevant human rights instrument ratified by the states concerned.

And the advisory jurisdiction, under the Article 4 of the Protocol, the court may at the request of a member state of the AU, any of the organs of AU, or any African organization recognized by the African Union, provide and opinion of any legal matter relating to Charter.

The senior legal officer of court (name withheld) pointed out that the court was established to complement the protective mandate of the commission but lacking the mandate of enforcing judgment within the AU.

He said the court was lacking a legal mechanism to enforce the decision by the court directly to the AU member states that have ratified both the Protocol and the African Charter.

He said that in order to implement rule of law, democracy and human rights in Africa, all member states of AU should make declaration and ratified protocol.

“Promotion should active so that the court is known to all citizens of Africa if you want to see the rule of law, democracy and human rights promotion to be implemented,” said the senior legal officer of court.

Since the adoption of the Protocol in 1998, only 28 of the 54 member states of AU have ratified it. The states include Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Lesotho, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Benin.

In addition to the ratification of the protocol, states have to make a declaration required under article 34 (6) to allow individuals and NGOs to bring directly before the court.

But since January 2015, only seven (7) of the 28 states parties to the protocol had made the declaration recognizing the competence of the court to receive cases from NGOs and individuals.

However, the court is comprised of eleven (11) judges, nationals of member states of the AU, and this time around Justice Augustino Ramadhani from Tanzania is the president helped by his vice president Justice Elsie Nwanwuri Thompson from Nigeria.

The court officially started its operations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2006, but in 2007 it moved to its seat in Arusha, Tanzania, where the government has provided it with temporary premises pending the construction of the permanent structure.

As at January 2015, the court had received 35 applications. It had disposed of 20 cases, transferred four to the commission and currently it has 11 pending cases on its table to examine.

The court’s official languages are the same as of those of the AU, which is, Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Kiswahili. But, the court may receive applications written in any other African language. (With the courtesy of Thompson Reuters Foundation)

Ends

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