Human Rights: EU, Inter-American Courts Pledge Support for African Court

The fight against human rights violations received a boost
Wednesday as the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, the
European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court agreed
to work together to bring violators of human rights to justice in
their respective jurisdiction.

After series of consultations, the three human rights courts in
Kampala, Uganda signed a memorandum of understanding and agreed to
work together to strengthen the protection of human rights and
access to international justice for persons under the jurisdiction
of the three tribunals.

Being the youngest of the courts, the African Court stands to
benefit most from the MoU.

They also agree to “contribute to state efforts to strengthen
their democratic institutions and human rights protection
mechanisms and to overcome common challenges to the effective
enjoyment of human rights.”

Under the MoU, the three institutions will share conceptual and
jurisprudential standards on human rights.

The understanding will enable the African Court, the youngest of
all the three institutions to send its staff to the European Court
and the Inter-American Court to enable them acquire the necessary
experience.

“The parties shall co-operate through joint actions to achieve
their specific mandates to promote the respect for human rights in
the State Parties to their respective constitutive instruments and,
ultimately universally”, the MoU stated.

The understanding will also enable the African Court to benefit
from the experience of the EU and the Inter-American courts in
enforcing its judgments.

The African Court is a continental court established by the
Member States of the African Union, to ensure the protection of
human and peoples’ rights in Africa. The court commenced its
operations in 2006, and has its permanent seat in Arusha,
Tanzania.

The court was established under the Protocol to the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the establishment of an
African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which was adopted on
June 9, 1998 in Burkina Faso, and came into force on January 25,
2004. Uganda ratified the Protocol on February 16, 2001.

So far, 30 countries have ratified the Protocol and of these,
only nine have deposited the Declaration required under Article
34(6) of the Protocol to allow NGOs and individuals to access the
court directly.
Nigeria has yet to make the declaration. Therefore, Nigerian
citizens can not approach the court for redress when their rights
are violated.

The court is composed of 11 judges, nationals of Member States
of the African Union elected in their individual capacity.

A Nigerian, Mrs Stella Anukam, is a judge of the court.