Between 28-29 May, the Commission of the African Union, in collaboration with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS), the Commission Nationale de Droits de l'Homme et des Libert�s Fondamentales (CNDHLF), and the Human Rights Project Fund (HRPF) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, organised a conference for West African States on the Protocol for the Establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in Niamey, Niger Republic.
Senior representatives of the following West African Countries attended the conference:
Benin
Burkina Faso
C�te d'Ivoire
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea Bissau
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone, and
Togo
The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Court of Justice of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) were represented at the conference.
The National Human Rights Institutions of Cape Verde, Ghana, Niger Republic, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo participated at the conference.
Participants from the following African Countries were also present at the conference as Observers:
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea, and
Lesotho
Also in attendance at the conference were representatives of non-governmental and media organisations and networks active in West Africa, including Union InterAfricaine des Droits de l'Homme (UIDH), the Pan African News Agency (PANA) and the Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute.
Conference was addressed by Mr Kemal Rezag-Bara, Chairman of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and opened by Mr Mamman Bashir Yahya, Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Lands, on behalf of the Government of Niger Republic. In his address, the Minister disclosed that the Government of Niger Republic at the highest level had decided to ratify the Protocol for the Establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The Minister further informed Conference that administrative processes had been set in motion to fulfil the instructions of the President of the Republic in this regard.
Conference considered several issues relevant to the establishment of the Court, including the drafting history of the African Court Protocol, a survey of the processes and consequences of ratification of the Protocol, constraints and obstacles to the ratification of the Protocol, as well as strategies to ensure early ratification thereof by all West African countries.
Professor E.V.O. Dankwa, member and past Chairman of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, on behalf of Dr. Ibrahim Baddawi El-Sheikh, addressed Conference on the relationship between the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the future African Court on Human and Peoples'
Judge El-Mansour Tall, Vice President of the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Judge Youssoupha Any Mahaman, Judge of the Court of Justice of the Economic Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) addressed Conference on the existing experiences of supra-national courts in the West African sub region.
Conference welcomed the initiative to sensitise African States about the Protocol and to discuss with States ways of overcoming, in partnership with the African Union and African Civil Society, constraints to the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.
C�te d'Ivoire deposited its instrument of ratification on 12 May 2003, joining Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Mali and Senegal as the other West African States to have ratified the African Court Protocol, and bringing to 9 the total number of ratifications so far received on the African Court Protocol.
Conference was informed that the Government of Togo had recently executed an instrument of ratification for transmission to the Commission of the African Union.
Conference was informed that in three West African States, namely, Benin Republic, Guinea Bissau and Niger Republic, the processes of ratification of the African Court Protocol were in advanced stages of imminent completion.
Conference was informed that Cape Verde was at the beginning of the constitutional process of ratification of the Protocol.
Conference called attention to the need to encourage ratifying States to make the optional Declaration under Article 34(6) of the African Court Protocol, conferring a right of access to the African Court to non-State actors, such as victims of human rights violations or NGOs and other representatives acting on their behalf.
At the end of their deliberations and towards the objective of achieving an early realisation of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, participants endorsed the establishment of a Coalition on the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights to facilitate full ratification of the African Court Protocol together with the Declaration accepting non-State access to the Court under Article 34(6) of the African Court Protocol by all West African states before 21 October 2003, the African Human Rights Day.
In the short term, the Coalition will work to realise the widest possible ratification of the African Court Protocol and ensure an early establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.
The Coalition is also to establish liaison with the Commission of the African Union and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights with a view to ensuring effective participation of African Civil Society in resolving practical issues associated with the establishment of an effective African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, including such issues as the location of the headquarters of the Court, election of its judges, establishment of the Registry of the Court, its Rules of Procedure and funding, as well as complementarities between the Court and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
The Coalition will comprise National Human Rights Institutions as well as national and international NGOs. Ultimately, the Coalition will seek to enlist membership from all countries of Africa, with designated focal points in each African country.
Representatives of the National Human Rights Institutions of Cape Verde, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, together with representatives of the Union InterAfricaine des Droits de l'Homme (UIDH, representing West African NGOs) and Interights (representing international NGOs active in Africa) were mandated to establish interim co-ordinating mechanisms for this coalition as well as liaison with the West African states that indicate a desire to ratify the Protocol imminently.
The Coalition will work towards convening a plenary meeting in the first week of October 2003 ahead of the deliberations of the 34th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in Banjul, The Gambia between 7 - 21 October 2003.
Conference hereby requests the Commission of the African Union to transmit this Communiqu� through appropriate channels to the Governments of West African States and in particular, to the Parliaments of the countries of West Africa and to the departments of government for Justice and Foreign Affairs respectively.
