African court starts drive to get 24 more members

A case has been cited of a Tanzanian national convicted of murder, sentenced to death and jailed in Arusha. He was not expecting any reprieve given the nature of the crime he allegedly committed and was on the verge of losing hope.

One day, while he was being transported with other convicts to the High Court premises from the Kisongo Prison along the Dodoma Road, he came across a poster on the African Court.

It was then that Peter Joseph Chacha, who had been convicted of murder in the local courts with his appeal for clemency quashed by the Court of Appeal, came to realise the presence of the continental judicial body in town.

Mr Chacha was later to file his appeal against the death sentence before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), seeking to be spared from the death row on legal technicalities on grounds his human rights were violated.

Ever since his case became public, several Tanzanians convicted of murder or with other cases have trooped to the court to seek legal advice on their predicaments.

As of now, according to the Court officials, nearly a half of the 80 plus applications received were from appeals of those jailed from the host country or fresh suits against allegations of human rights.

Similar appeals have also been received from other African countries.

But that has not been an easy task.

Until the recent past, there had been complaints that AfCHPR, a judicial organ of the African Union (AU), was not much known even in the host country, Tanzania, and more so in its host city of Arusha.

Slightly over a year since he was appointed President of the Court, Justice Sylvain Ore wants that situation to become history.

He feels the court has not made major breakthrough in winning support among most African countries, the AU member states.

That could be reflected in the number of the countries, which have ratified the Protocol for its establishment. Currently, there are 30 out of the 54 member countries of the AU.

As if that is not enough, only eight AU member states (and these include Tanzania) were party to a declaration that allows individuals and NGOs from their respective countries to bring cases directly before the court.

Without such declaration, the court would have no jurisdiction over cases brought by individuals and non-governmental organisations.

In a fresh bid to ensure the court reached out to more African nations, and therefore undertake its mandate efficiently, Justice Ore recently assembled communication experts to Arusha to lay ground for the way forward. He told them with no institution can do without communication “in this century which is governed by the new technologies”, the African Court has devoted much emphasis on communications in its 2016-2020 Strategic Plan.

He said the situation was more challenging because it serves not only the ordinary citizens but also the NGOs, the African states and other institutions empowered to bring cases before it.

The court, he argued, does not communicate in order to earn money but rather to discharge a much nobler mission; to make the African citizens aware of their rights “including the right to seek and receive justice before the court”.

“The court must endow itself with the means and methods of communication commensurate with its objectives. In other words, the court cannot communicate like any other institutions”, he told communication experts, majority of them senior journalists from around the East African region.

Justice Ore emphasised that nomatter the challenges, the communication strategy should not exclude legal professionals and international legal experts with experience as human rights advocates.

The President of the Court, who took over from Judge Augustino Ramadhani in September last year after the end of tenure for the latter, stressed it was not enough for policy makers to continue complaining that AfCHPR was not much known but to act promptly.

“It is unnecessary to reiterate the poor knowledge of the Court and the limited visibility it has among the African citizens. We have to build awareness with the media playing a catalyzer role,” he pointed out.

Those in attendance included Donald Deya, the CEO of Arusha-based Pan African Lawyers’ Union (Palu) who argued that the communications unit at the Court should be strengthened to enable it perform its duties.

Recently, the Court undertook a sensitisation drive to make it known across the continent which took its officials to Guinea Bissau.

“It is within this framework that since 2010, the Court has embarked on a sensitization programme, which has enabled it to carry out outreach visits, seminars and conferences at national, regional and continental levels,” Justice Oré further said.

He added the mission was among various initiatives aimed at making people and countries across Africa to “deepen their understanding of the Court mission and its role in terms of human rights protection”.

Early this year, AfCHPR undertook similar missions in Egypt and Tunisia, which resulted in Tunisia depositing a declaration allowing NGOs and individuals to access the Court.

Egypt, which is among nearly a two dozen AU member countries which has not ratified the protocol which established the judicial institution, expressed its willingness to work towards ratification of the document.

The court was established by virtue of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ and is aimed to complement the protective mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights with a view to enhancing the protection of human rights on the continent.

However, policy makers and observers insist that its success as a human rights protection mechanism requires much wider ratification of the protocol by AU member states as well as their acceptance of the competence of the Court by making the Declaration under Article 34(6).