AfCHPR Judges

Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza

South Africa

Hon. Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza is a citizen of the Republic of South Africa. He is a Professor of Law and holds a BA (SA), BProc (SA), LLB) [WSU] and LLM International Law) (UCT). It would interest you to know that he completed his studies for the BProc degree while serving a long prison term for political activism.

Justice Ntsebeza rose to prominence in the 1990’s as Commissioner and Head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Investigative Unit. He has acted on several occasions as a Judge of the High Court and of the Labour Court in SA.

He practices as an advocate and holds Chambers in Sandton and Johannesburg as a Group Leader of the Sandton Chapter of the Pan African Bar Association of South Africa [PABASA].

In 2002, he was a Visiting Distinguished Professor of Law and Politics in the University of Connecticut, USA, where he taught credit courses in Politics at Storrs, and Human Rights and Reparations Law at UConn’s Law Faculty in Hartford.

In 2004, he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General to serve as a Commissioner on the UN International Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations in Darfur, Sudan. He has published widely on a number of subjects, including human rights.

He is a qualified and an accredited Arbitrator and Commercial Mediator.

Justice Ntsebeza was elected Judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in February 2021, for a six-year term.


Justice Rafaâ Ben Achour

Tunisia

Justice Rafaâ Ben Achour, a native of Tunisia, was elected Judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in June 2014, for a six year term.

He is Professor Emeritus in Public Law at the Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences of the University of Carthage (Tunisia).
Justice Ben Achour is a holder of a Degree in Advanced Studies in Public Law obtained in 1978, a Degree in Political Sciences obtained in 1979, a Doctorat d’État (PHD) in International Law obtained in1984, and was admitted into the corps of lecturers in Public Law and Political Sciences in the University of Tunis in 1987.

He has been President of a University, Minister and Ambassador.
He has written several books and articles in law.

Until 2010, he was an AU expert on the transformation of the African Union Commission into the African Union Authority.
Justice Ben Achour was a member of the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL). He is a member of the International Human Rights Institute in Strasbourg (2003).He was a founding member of the International Academy of Constitutional Law, where he was Secretary General from 1986 to 1996. He is an alternate member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law.

Justice Ben Achour was a Board member of the United Nations University from 2001 to 2007.


Lady Justice Ntyam Ondo Mengue

Cameroon

Justice Ntyam Ondo Mengue is a national of the Republic of Cameroon. She was elected Judge of the African Court for a six year term during the 27th AU Summit held in July 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Justice Mengue holds a number of educational qualifications, including:

A Diplôme de l’Ecole Normale d’Administration et de Magistrature and a Licence en Droit Privé
At the professional level, she has worked in the judiciary of Cameroon since 1982, that is for over three decades now, holding a number of key positions, such as the President of the Court of Instance of Yaoundé, Vice President of the Court of Appeal; President of the Section on Administrative Contracts of the Court of Supreme Court of Cameroon. She is presently the President of the Commercial Section of the Supreme Court of Cameroon.

Justice Mengue is also a member of the National Commission of Human Rights and Freedoms of Cameroon, where she has acted as Rapporteur on numerous occasions, and has specialised in thematic areas, such as the right to vote, the rights of detained persons, arbitrary arrests and the right to fair trial.

Justice Mengue has taken part in several national and international seminars and conferences, and is a member of a number of professional organisations, including the Association of Cameroon Female Lawyers and Christian Women Association of the Cameroon Presbyterian Church. She is fluent in both French and English.