Sunday, 22 November 2020, marks a year since Tanzania withdrew its special declaration under article 34(6) of the Protocol. As a result, as of next week, individuals and NGOs cannot bring new cases directly to the African Court.
The withdrawals in late 2019 by Tanzania, and Benin and Côte d’Ivoire in mid-2020, mark an important moment in the Court’s history. Without individual access, the Court could find itself in short supply of cases. That is not to say there aren’t human rights issues in the AU that deserve attention, but rather that jurisdictional barriers remain between victims of human rights abuses and the Court.
The steep rise of withdrawals has spurred the publication of a number of pieces that analysed the withdrawals and their consequences. The Court has also added a new section to its website this year: An overview of which States have submitted (and withdrawn) special declarations (available here). In this post we provide an overview of some of the publications discussing the withdrawals, and encourage readers to email us with links to further blogs/publications that can be added to this list (acthprmonitor@gmail.com).
List of publications:
Apollin Koagne Zouapet, ‘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?, EJIL:Talk! (5 May 2020)
Oliver Windridge, Under Attack? Under the Radar? Under-Appreciated? All of the Above? A Time of Reckoning for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Opinio Juris (7 May 2020)
Misha Plagis and Alice Banens, Episode 24 – The Incredible Shrinking Court with Misha Plagis and Alice Banens, Asymmetrical Haircuts podcast (15 May 2020)
Nicole De Silva and Misha Plagis, A Court in Crisis: African States’ Increasing Resistance to Africa’s Human Rights Court, Opinio Juris (19 May 2020)
Tetevi Davi and Ezechiel Amani, Another One Bites the Dust: Côte d’Ivoire to End Individual and NGO Access to the African Court, EJIL:Talk! (19 May 2020)
Misha Plagis, The beginning of the end of a home-grown African Court?, Asser Blog (20 May 2020)
Sègnonna Horace Adjolohoun, A crisis of design and judicial practice? Curbing state disengagement from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Human Rights Law Journal (2020) Vol. 20, No 1, pp. 1-40.
Nicole De Silva, Individual and NGO Access to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The Latest Blow from Tanzania, EJIL:Talk! (16 December 2019)
Amnesty International, Joint Statement Condemning Tanzania’s Withdrawal of Individuals Access to the African Court, 2019
Oliver Windridge, Assessing Rwexit: the impact and implications of Rwanda’s withdrawal of its article 34(6)-declaration before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Human Rights Yearbook, 2018, Vol. 2, pp. 243-258.
* Correction: An earlier version of this post published on 12 November 2020 claimed the withdrawal would take effect on 14 November 2020, in line with the information on the Court’s website. However, according to the Court’s decision in Andrew Ambrose Cheusi v. Tanzania (para. 39), the withdrawal will only take effect on 22 November 2020, 12 months after Tanzania deposited its withdrawal with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (on 21 November 2019). We have, therefore, amended this post to reflect the Court’s decision instead.