Abstract
The African continent has established the African Court as the principal justice mechanism to enforce human rights when individuals and groups are unable to obtain effective, available or sufficient local remedies in their internal judicial systems. The establishment of the Court was viewed to bring new hope to individuals and groups, victims of human rights violations and impunity within African States. However, the analysis of the legal framework underpinning the Court and the practice of the Court reveals that this hope is far from being reached. Indeed, access to this regional court by individuals or groups of victims of human rights is tremendously restricted to the extent that justice is denied to them. Admissibility of Individuals and NGOs’ Complaints are subject to a lengthy requirements list, which is likely to lead the Court to dismiss their applications on grounds of lack of jurisdiction. As such, their quest to obtain justice through this court is often defeated.
The article aims to reflect on the suitability of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights with regard to the admissibility and adjudication of individuals' and NGOs’ human rights complaints. It argues that the right to access the Court by individuals and NGOs is tremendously restricted in such a way that Justice is denied to them; thus, it calls for relevant institutional and normative reforms for the Court to be more effective in the administration of justice to victims of human rights violation and impunity in Africa.
By so doing, the article reviews the substantial African legal framework of the Court with a view to identifying flaws and limitations which impede individuals' and NGOs' access to the Court and affect the adjudication of individual human rights complaints. In addition, through the use of comparative analysis, the article focuses on the most standing regional human rights Courts, the Inter-American and the European Court of Human Rights, to draw lessons to guide the African Court towards an effective adjudication of individuals' human rights complaints.
About the speaker
Aimé Ndayishimiye is a PhD Researcher at Makerere University, currently undertaking a research exchange at the Faculty of Law of the EUI. Aimé's doctoral thesis is titled "Examination of the Effectiveness of the East African Court of Justice in the Adjudication of Civil and Political Rights Cases".