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The Role of the African Court in the Protection of Human Rights in Africa

The Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Court Coalition) invites applications from human rights Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and legal practitioners in Africa to participate in a sensitization webinar on the Role of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the Protection of Human Rights.

Objective:

The main objective of the webinar is to enhance awareness among African human rights CSOs and legal practitioners on the mandate of the African Court and its role in the protection of human rights; and encourage their engagement with it to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa.

Date: 28 November 2024

Time: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EAT

Platform: Zoom

Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3ZhObKB

Language: English

Targeted Participants:

The webinar targets Civil Society organisations and legal practitioners who are actively working on the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa.

Background and Context

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Court) was established to complement the protective mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Banjul commission) by strengthening the human rights protection system in Africa and ensuring respect for and compliance with the African Charter, as well as other international human rights instruments, through judicial decisions. The African Court was established by virtue of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Court Protocol) which was adopted on 9 June 1998 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and entered into force on 25 January 2004. The Court started its operations in the year 2006 in Arusha, Tanzania where it has its permanent seat.

Despite accessibility challenges, and limited enforcement capacity of its decisions, the African Court has contributed in advancing the African human rights jurisprudence and the protection of human and peoples’ rights in the continent through a wide range of issues from socio-economic to civil and political rights. The Court also plays a key role in the continent by providing an avenue for redress of human rights violations and access to justice beyond national judiciaries and thus setting standards and norms for the protection of human rights in the continent.

The African Court is thus an avenue that African citizens should be familiar with and they should be able to engage with for the redress of human rights violations after exhausting available domestic remedies within their countries.

African citizens, especially CSOs and human rights activists should also understand key challenges that affect their access to the African Court, as well as challenges of compliance with decisions of the African Court by State Parties, and form concerted efforts to address such challenges.

It is against this background that the African Court Coalition is organizing a sensitization webinar for human rights CSOs and legal practitioners to create awareness about the avenues for redress of human rights violations that the African Court offers.

About the African Court Coalition

The Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Court Coalition) is a membership-based organisation made up with Civil Society Organisations, human rights institutions, law societies and individual members with interest in the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. The key purpose for the establishment of the African Court Coalition is to advocate for an effective, independent and accessible African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Court) in order to provide redress to victims of human rights violations and strengthen the human rights protection system in Africa. The Coalition mission is to mobilize and coordinate the diverse stakeholders of the African Court to support building of an institutionally strong and independent Court that delivers effectively and efficiently on its mandate. The Coalition also works towards strengthening the complementary relationship between the African Court and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Banjul Commission).