The African Commission finalises rules for the human rights court
Posted by African Press International on March 3, 2008
Discussions on the Rules of Procedures of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights which was underway at the 4th Extra-Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel Conference Hall in Banjul, The Gambia has just ended. The week-long closed door session kicked off on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 was with the expectations to give the final consideration to the court’s rules of procedure and hopefully adopt them.
It could be recalled that the African Court, which came into existence in 2006, was established by the African Union following its adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
According to the Chairperson of the African Commission, Justice Sanji Mmasenono Monageng, “The African Court is already quite advanced in the elaboration of its rules of procedure”. Regarding the African Commission, Justice Monageng said the original intention had been for the Commission to consider and adopt its rules of procedure during the 42nd ordinary session in Brazzaville, Congo, in November 2007, but its workload made it impossible.
She said, “Hence the main reason for holding this extra-ordinary session is to finalize consideration of our rules of procedure and adopt them, so that they are ready in time for our rendezvous with the African Court later this year, to harmonize the rules of procedure of the two organs.”
The extra-ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) ended in Banjul without concluding on all the items on their agenda. The commission was expected to finalize and consider the rules of procedure of the African Human Rights Court in this fourth extra-ordinary session, but the commission in a Communiqué’ said that it had postponed some of the unfinished work to a future date.
“The African Commission would also like to place on record that due to the intensity of the work involved in the consideration of the rules of procedure, it was able to consider only three of the items originally slated for this extra-ordinary session namely, the draft rules of procedure and the human rights situations in Kenya and Somalia,” the communiqué noted.
The Commission’s Chairperson, Justice Sanji Monageng, expressed that the remaining issues will be tackled at the May ordinary session in Swaziland. We hope that the Commission would not be over overloaded again, thus hindering the time table in Swaziland.
The Commission has adopted two resolutions and it will send a fact-finding mission to Kenya and Somalia in due course to investigate allegations of human rights violation in the two neighbouring states, according to reports.
Marie Saine-Firdaus Secretary of State for Justice and Attorney General for The Gambia said she hopes that the rules of procedure for the African Court would serve the interest of all the people on the continent.
In his statement, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Department of State for Justice, Alhaji Sainey Susso, on behalf of the Attorney General, said the session “is another milestone in the development of the African human rights system”. Mr. Susso said that from establishing a commission twenty years ago, they have now seen the need for a human rights court which will consolidate the gains registered by the commission.
He said: “The promotion and protection of human rights in Africa is the primary responsibility of all and sundry because it is only when our human rights are guaranteed, promoted, protected and fulfilled that peace and development will be realised in the continent.”
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