African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights

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Western Sahara before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights: Is there a “brother’s keeper” obligation for the Member States of the African Union?

October 13, 2022

Hélène Tigroudja

In the current international context where States are ‘(re)discovering’ the virtue of international judicial litigation tools (before the ICJ or before the European Court of Human Rights), the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights was presented with a unique request against the backdrop of protecting the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people. The latter have been opposed to Morocco since 1975 in a frontal struggle claiming sovereignty over the Western Sahara (here). When, in 2016, Morocco asked to be readmitted to the African Union (AU), the question may have arisen as to the extent to which it would have been imperative to condition this admission by imposing respect for the self-determination of the Sahrawi people. In other words, would the “unconditioned” admission of Morocco in breach of the right to self-determination - a peremptory norm - be an internationally wrongful act that triggers AU States’ individual and collective responsibility? On 22 September 2022, the African Court issued its judgement on the matter and concluded unanimously that the Respondent…

The Mauritius Oil Spill: Using Africa’s ‘judicial environmentalism’ as an avenue for redress?

November 27, 2020

Misha Plagis

Oliver Windridge

Since the MV Wakashio ship ran aground on 25 July this year, Mauritius has been facing an unfolding human and environmental disaster. Up to 100,000 Mauritians took to the streets in late August to protest against the State’s handling of the disaster, one of the largest protests in the country in over 40 years. In this…

Another One Bites the Dust: Côte d’Ivoire to End Individual and NGO Access to the African Court

May 19, 2020

Tetevi Davi

Ezéchiel Amani

On 29 April 2020, the government of Côte d’Ivoire issued a press statement announcing its decision to withdraw the right of individuals and NGOs to submit complaints directly to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘the Court’). This right was granted in 2013, when it deposited a special declaration with the Court in accordance…

‘Victim of its commitment … You, passerby, a tear to the proclaimed virtue’: Should the epitaph of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights be prepared?

May 5, 2020

Apollin Koagne Zouapet

In a letter dated 21 April, the Government of Benin informed the African Union of its decision to withdraw the declaration made under Article 34(6) of the Ouagadougou Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. As the Court recalled in its first judgment, direct referral by an individual or an NGO is subject…

Individual and NGO Access to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The Latest Blow from Tanzania

December 16, 2019

Nicole De Silva

Recently, reports emerged (here and here) that the Tanzanian government withdrew its declaration allowing individuals and NGOs to directly submit applications against it at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR). Tanzania’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Prof. Palamagamba Kabudi signed the notice of withdrawal on 14 November 2019, and…

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The Successes and Challenges for the European Court, Seen from the Outside

May 14, 2014

Laurence Helfer

Laurence R. Helfer is the Harry R. Chadwick, Sr. Professor of Law and Co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Lawat Duke University. Cross-posted on AJIL Unbound. In this post I wish to address the successes and challenges for the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), as…

The Rise and Rise of Political Backlash: African Union Executive Council’s decision to review the mandate and working methods of the African Commission

August 2, 2018

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The latest African Union (AU) Summit, held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, from 25 June to 2 July 2018, has left the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) severely undermined. The Executive Council adopted Decision EX.CL/Dec.1015(XXIII), which endorses some worrying recommendations that emanated from the joint retreat, held in June, by the ACHPR and the Permanent…

The Ogiek Case of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Not So Much News After All?

June 16, 2017

Ricarda Roesch

On Friday, May 26, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) delivered its long-awaited judgement on the expulsion of the Ogiek people, a Kenyan hunter-gatherer community, from their ancestral lands in the Mau forest. As the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) did not manage to settle the conflict, it was…

Two Times Too Many: Botswana and the Death Penalty

March 30, 2018

Oliver Windridge

Without wanting to trivialise the hard work needed to litigate human rights cases, it is often implementation that is considered the pinnacle of achievement. Put simply, it is one thing to convince a commission or court that a countries’ policies or actions contravene a human rights instrument, it is quite another for that country to implement the decision.