The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on Monday asserted that the Continental Court has indisputably recorded successes and brought about key changes to the human rights discourse in Africa.
These gains should serve as stepping stones in restoring confidence in the African Court, as the continent celebrates 40 years of the African Charter as the cornerstone of human rights there was the need for stock taking.
Lady Justice Imani D. Aboud, African Court President, stated at the opening of the 62nd Ordinary Session of the Continental Court in Arusha Tanzania, stressing however that the African Court faced unprecedented challenges in its operation.
She cited states cooperation with the African Court as well as the effectiveness of its internal functioning.
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“I am delighted that the agenda of the 62nd Ordinary Session of the African Court, which kicks off today reflects this new trend towards greater effectiveness of the Court, with a focus on improving on quality in delivering justice to Africa and the Africans.
“I first note that judicial matters feature lesser work on requests for provisional measures, while a substantial number of matters are scheduled for deliberation and delivery of judgments”.
Justice Aboud noted that various studies had been submitted for consideration, which would lead to policy decisions on questions as important as how to make use of and frame rulings on provisional measures or recourse to amicable settlement processes.
“It cannot be overemphasized that our working methods weight critically in the fabric of the main product delivered by the African Court, which is its decisions,” She said.
The African Court President said: “Our decisions, the reasoning that back them and the shape in which they come in the operation chapters set the tone for our visibility and legitimacy in the African human rights system, but also in the arena of international human rights law”.
Justice Aboud charged the African Court Judges to pursue its commitment to devise strategies for a more effective management of judicial matters including innovative ways to address delays in completing cases and resorbing the backlog through formulas that bore in mind significant resources currently invested in examining repetitive cases.
Focusing on the 62nd Ordinary Session, the African Court President, said it would involve taking stock of the preparation of important events to be held by the end of the year.
She said fifth Judicial Dialogue slated for November 4 and 5 which had now become one flagship event of the Court, required meticulous preparation for a full success.
The same applies to the international conference being organized on the implementation and impact of our decisions back-to-back with the 63rd session planned to be held in Dar es salaam from November 8th, to December 3rd, 2021.
