The recently elected president of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights spoke to CATHERINE AGENO about his priorities at the Arusha-based court.

--------------------------------------

Many AU member states are still hesitant to ratify the protocol and those that have ratified it are reluctant to deposit the declaration, allowing their citizens to present cases to the Court. Have you come up with a new way to encourage these countries to co-operate more with the Court?

What we have to do is to strengthen the sensitisation programme. We have visited around 25 countries to sensitise the leaders and explain the work of the Court and its importance to citizens. This is all we can do and hope that after that they understand and appreciate its work, they can then ratify the Protocol and deposit the declaration. That’s the best we can do, we cannot force them to ratify.

Journalists work in a hostile environment with limited freedom of expression especially in countries where the Protocol has not been ratified. How will this Court promote safety and the rights of journalists?

Much as freedom of expression is a human right, it is not without limits and so it’s important for journalists to uphold high ethical standards, which can then contribute to a better society.

The power of the media is often abused in ways that undermine democracy, sometimes through sheer carelessness and sensation, thus causing considerable damage to individuals.

It is, however, important to note that freedom of expression is an absolute basic human right, according to Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. It states that every individual shall have the right to receive information.

Africans need to be informed about their rights as enshrined in their constitutions and how to achieve these rights.

That said, the media is central in my plans to strengthen and implement the communication strategy of the Court.

That’s why my first meeting after election was with senior journalists because they are key for information transmission to the various publics regarding the Court’s work and key decisions and judgments.

This is important for building the citizens’ confidence in the Court’s independence.

The AfCHPR has also embarked on efforts to create a pool of knowledge-based editors and journalists to publicise its mandate to protect human rights on the continent.

Under this arrangement, several senior journalists drawn from East Southern, Central, Western and North Africa have met in Arusha, Tanzania and have been enlightened on the broad framework of the African Union agenda on integration in relation to the African Governance Architecture (AGA).

Rwanda has withdrawn its declaration that allows citizens and NGOs to file applications before the Court. What impact does such a move have on future ratifications? And what does it mean for Rwandan citizens?

Rwanda’s withdrawal will come into effect one year after pulling out.

For now, Rwandans can still file their cases. (Rwanda made the withdrawal communication on February 29, three years after it first deposited the declaration under Article 34(6) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In the communication, the Rwandan government said it was preventing exploitation of the individual complaint procedure by criminals, particularly individuals who took part in the 1994 genocide and have subsequently fled the country).

READ: Rwanda yet to pull out of African court, files for withdrawal

Access to the court is said to be limited since it is currently through state parties, do you have any plans and is it in your power to have this changed to ease access by citizens of these member states whose human rights may have been violated?

Access to the Court is easy. You can access it through the Internet, postal services or for those who are able; physically deliver the application at it premises in Arusha, Tanzania.

Perhaps we could set up offices of the Court in these countries, or some sort of registry, but again, Human rights are a delicate matter and must be handled as such, so setting up such offices may affect the Courts judicial operations. And here I mean issues to do with independence.

The Malabo Protocol to extend the Court’s jurisdiction to include international criminal cases was adopted in 2014, but two years later no state has ratified it. What is the problem?

The Protocol was adopted in 2014 in Equatorial Guinea and is now open for ratification but no country has ratified it. But like I said earlier, ratification is the function of the sovereign states and we can only wait for these countries to take a political decision. Until then we can only sit and wait as we handle the Court’s current mandate of human rights violation cases.

There are plans for creating a permanent home for the Court. Should we hope to see this dream come true during your term in office?

We sure have such plans. This is just a temporary home. We have to get a home. We have identified the land and developed the architectural design. What now remains a big challenge are the funds and we are working on that with the government of Tanzania.

So we really hope that this will soon come to fruition because Africa as a continent needs a home for its court. It will be a shame to continue operating without one. Since other continents like Europe have one, why not Africa? We do hope that our plans will come to fruition soon.

A big percentage of the funding of the African Court comes from the donor community and partners like GIZ. This however, raises questions about its independence. How do you intend to handle this?

The funds for the Court’s judicial operations are fully provided by the AU through the member states. The funds from partners like GIZ are meant to facilitate some additional work like sensitisation. So such a relationship with partners does not affect the independence of the Court.