MEDIA ADVISORY
35th Ordinary Session of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

INVITATION TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA

What: 35th Ordinary Session of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Who: African Court for Human and Peoples’ Rights.

When: 24th November – 5th December 2014.

Time: 10.00A.M

Where: Nelson Mandela Conference Hall, African Union Headquarters.

Objectives: Two public hearings to be heard during the session.
(i) Application 006/2012- African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v Kenya on 27-28 November, 2014
(ii) Application 005/2013- Alex Thomas v Tanzania on 3-4 December, 2014

Background
• The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Court) is a continental court established by African countries to ensure protection of human and peoples’ rights in Africa. It complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
• The mandate of the Court is to complement and reinforce the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission – often referred to as the Banjul Commission), which is a quasi-judicial body charged with monitoring the implementation of the Charter.
• The Court has jurisdiction over all cases and disputes submitted to it concerning the interpretation and application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the (the Charter), the Protocol and any other relevant human rights instrument ratified by the States concerned. Specifically, the Court has two types of jurisdiction: contentious and advisory.
• The Court is composed of eleven Judges, nationals of Member States of the African Union. The first Judges of the Court were elected in January 2006, in Khartoum, Sudan. They were sworn in before the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union on 2 July 2006, in Banjul, the Gambia. The Judges of the Court are elected, after nomination by their respective States, in their individual capacities from among African jurists of proven integrity and of recognized practical, judicial or academic competence and experience in the field of human rights. The judges are elected for a six year or four year term renewable once. The judges of the Court elect a President and Vice-President of the Court among themselves who serve a two year term. They can be re-elected only once. The President of the Court resides and works on a full time basis at the seat of the Court, while the other ten (10) judges work on a part-time basis. In the accomplishment of his duties, the President is assisted by a Registrar who performs registry, managerial and administrative functions of the Court.
• The Court officially started its operations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November 2006, but in August 2007 it moved to its seat in Arusha, the United Republic of Tanzania, where the Government of the Republic has provided it with temporary premises pending the construction of a permanent structure. Between 2006 and 2008, the Court dealt principally with operational and administrative issues, including the development of the structure of the Court's Registry, preparation of its budget and drafting of its Interim Rules of Procedure. In 2008, during the Court's Ninth Ordinary Session, judges of the Court provisionally adopted the Interim Rules of the Court pending consultation with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, based in Banjul, the Gambia in order to harmonize their rules to achieve the purpose of the provisions of the Protocol establishing the Court, which requires that the two institutions must harmonize their respective Rules so as to achieve the intended complementarity between the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This harmonization process was completed in April 2010 and in June 2010, the Court adopted its final Rules of Court.
• According to the Protocol (Article 5) and the Rules (Rule 33), the Court may receive complaints and/or applications submitted to it either by the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights or State parties to the Protocol or African Intergovernmental Organizations. Non-Governmental Organizations with observer status before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and individuals from States which have made a Declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the Court can also institute cases directly before the Court. As of March 2014, only seven countries had made such a Declaration. Those countries are Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Tanzania and Republic of Cote d'Ivoire (Click on the name, to see the Country’s Declaration Text).
• The Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was adopted on 9 June 1998 in Burkina Faso and came into force on 25 January 2004 after it was ratified by more than 15 countries. The Court has its permanent seat in Arusha, the United Republic of Tanzania.
• As at October 2014, the Court had received 32 applications on contentious matters and eight requests for advisory opinion. The Court has disposed of 23 contentious matters and has nine pending while it has disposed of four requests for advisory and four are pending. The Court is composed of eleven judges, nationals of member states of the African Union elected in their individual capacity. The Court meets four times in year in Ordinary Sessions.
Media representatives are invited to cover the event.
Please Note: The public is invited to attend the hearings. For security reasons, members of the public wishing to attend the hearings should send their names to the following addresses no later than 25 November, 2014.
1. Mrs. Eliane Adote Berthe, Senior Legal Officer,
Email: Eliane.Egue@african-court.org; or Eliane.Egue@african-court.org; or egueeliane@yahoo.fr

2. Mrs. Ingrid Kanyamuneza, Senior Legal Officer,
Email: Ingrid.Kanyamuneza@african-court.org or kanyamunezaingrid@yahoo.fr

For any inquiry, please contact:

Sukdhev Chhatbar
Senior Information and Communication Officer
African Court on Human and People’s Rights
Email: schatbar@african-court.org
Telephone: +251929186648

Ms Yasmine Ali
Communication Officer
Directorate of Information and Communication
African Union Commission
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Email: Yasmineally@ymail.com
AliY@africa-union.org

Tel: +251912646241

For further information:
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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