Today is Human Rights Day which seemed as good a time as any to reflect on the number of African Union member states who have signed up to the Court and, perhaps most importantly, signed the Special Declaration allowing individuals and NGOs direct access to the Court.
This time last year, as I discussed here, 28 member states had signed the Protocol establishing the Court. Signing this Protocol gives the Court jurisdiction to consider applications from the member state itself, other member states who have signed the Protocol, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and intergovernmental organisations, but crucially no jurisdiction to hear applications from individuals and NGOs from the member state.
One year later how many do we have signed up to the Protocol? 29. In the past 12 months only Cameroon have ratified the Protocol.
And what of the member states that have in addition to signing the Protocol, also signed the Special Declaration allowing individuals and NGOs to petition the Court directly? 12 months ago that number stood at 7- approximately 13% of the African Union membership. And what is the magic number this year? Well, still 7. Sadly, in the past 12 months not one member state has signed the Special Declaration.
I am aware of the arguments cautioning against member states committing to processes only to pull out afterwards, and the perceived political ramifications of supporting the African Court (both for and against). I am also aware that the signing of the Special Declaration is a complex, difficult and often Byzantine process to push through at the domestic level, but the fact remains that the numbers are still unacceptably low.
The current President of the Court Justice Ramadhani has spent a lot of time this year urging AU member states to sign both the Protocol and the Special Declaration. You can see some examples here, here, here, and here. I can do no better than to echo these sentiments.
The African Charter for Human and Peoples’ Rights is a comprehensive human rights instrument that can serve African citizens well by protecting both individual and peoples rights. But without the ability to enforce these rights when they are violated, the Charter remains unreachable and theoretical for all but those fortunate enough to be citizens one of the seven member states that have signed the Special Declaration.
If the African Charter, and the African Court that was created to uphold and enforce the rights contained in the Charter, is to truly protect the whole of Africa the number of member states who sign the Protocol and Special Declaration must increase without delay. What better time to make an announcement committing to signing the Court’s Protocol and Special Declaration than on Human Rights Day?
Reminder: The views expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation affiliated to the author.