AFRICAN COURT WINS ONE MORE MEMBER DESPITE SETBACKS

 

The African Court on Human and People's Rights (AfCHPR) has won a new member despite recent setbacks.

Madagascar is the latest country to accede to the Protocol that established the judicial organ of the African Union (AU).

The legal facility was established in 1998 by the then OAU members to handle cases on human rights violations in the continent.

The organ said last week that Madagascar has become the 33rd country to sign the Protocol that established AfCHPR.

"This is an excellent development", the Arusha-based Court said in a statement to the media.

It expressed hope that Madagascar will also make a Special Declaration under the Article 34 (6) to allow individuals and NGOs to access the Court directly.

The President of the Court Lady Justice Imani d. Aboud said she was optimistic more AU member countries would sign the Protocol.

"Other states which have not ratified the Protocol and made the Special Declaration to do so", she explained. 

Madagascar's signing of the Protocol has come at a time of recent setbacks for the continental legal facility.

Between 2016 and 2020, four African countries - - including Tanzania - ditched the Declaration on individuals and NGOs' access to the Court.

Currently there are eight countries which have deposited the  contentious provision which is not popular among African leaders

These are Burkina Faso,Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Mali, Niger and Tunisia.

Those which withdrew are Rwanda (2016) while Cote d'Ivoire and Benin pulled out in 2020.Tanzania ditched it in 2019. 

With the appending of signatures by Madagascar, the Protocol for the Establishment of the Court has been signed by 33 out of 55 AU member states.

Recently, the President of the Court in the company of senior officials embarked on a sensitization mission to various African countries.

"Our ambition is to deepen greater public confidence in the African Court, being the citizens,states and institutions", she said.

The court started operations in Addis Ababa, the AU headquarters  and relocated to Arusha in 2007, three years after Tanzania ratified the protocol establishing it. 

According to the Court records, about 90 percent of about 160 rulings made so far have not been implemented by state parties.