AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) will begin its 59th Ordinary Session today.
The four-week session will stretch up to November 27, with judgments, to be delivered during the session, will be streamed live.
AfCHPR is composed of eleven judges, nationals of Member States of the African Union elected in their individual capacity.
It meets four times a year as it holds ordinary sessions and may also hold extra-ordinary sessions.
The continental court was established by African countries to ensure the protection of human and peoples’ rights in Africa.
It complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
It was established by virtue of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Protocol), which was adopted by then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Member States in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in June 1998.
The Protocol came into force on January 25, 2004 after it was ratified by more than 15 countries.
It 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 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.
