EU / African human rights bodies / Prospects for the future
STASBOURG, France, September 12, 2008/African Press Organization (APO)/ — If Africa’s home-grown human rights institutions are to be effective, financial aid and political support from the EU could play a valuable role, members of the EP Subcommittee on Human Rights heard on Thursday. MEPs expressed strong encouragement for these institutions, although they were told that support from African states themselves was not always forthcoming.
The subcommittee’s hearing, which was part of the EP’s African Week, opened with an account by Fatsah Ouguergouz, a judge at the African Court of Human and People’s Rights, of the efforts over the years to build a system of human rights protection in Africa.
The system includes a Charter on Human and People’s Rights, dating from 1986; a Commission, inaugurated in 1987 (an advisory body whose decisions are not binding); and now a Court, whose decisions are binding. The Court’s judges first took office in 2006. However, it is already in the process of being merged with the Court of Justice of the African Union, which Dr Ouguergouz likened disapprovingly to “merging the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg with the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg”.
One weakness of the Court is the lack of real support from the AU states that agreed to set it up. Only 25 out of 53 AU states have ratified the protocol establishing the Court and only two have issued the declaration allowing individuals to take cases to the Court.
Both Grégoire Thiry of the NGO Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme and a European Commission representative stressed that individuals will not be allowed to take cases directly to the new, merged court, thereby “limiting access to justice”. While endorsing these concerns, Nobuntu Mbelle, of the NGO Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, pointed to a positive side of the “merged court”: it will have “the power to impose sanctions” on states that fail to comply with its rulings. Mr Thiry also voiced concern at the Court’s lack of “financial independence” and suggested the EU might assist.
Enforceability, visibility and funding
The experts then replied to questions from Hélène Flautre (Greens/EFA, FR), chair of the subcommittee, Colme Burke (EPP-ED, IE) and Raimon Obiols I Germà (PES, ES).
To Mr Burke’s concerns about the “enforceability” of the Court’s rulings and its sources of funding. Dr Ouguergouz replied that a key problem was the lack of “visibility” of the Court’s judgments. He believed “promotion work” must be emphasised. On funding, he suggested that an endowment, managed by a board of trustees, as enjoyed by the Caribbean Court of Justice, might solve this problem.
On the broader question of the Court’s prospects, Dr Ouguergouz stressed that “Africa is not Europe” and “we are trying to create a space, a favourable climate for the Court’s activities”, to create “a judicial pillar of the African Union”. Replying to Mr Obiols’ request for recommendations to the subcommittee, Dr Ouguergouz asked for the EP to “continue showing interest in the Court and the new, merged court and to raise its profile, and the question of funding, with the EU executive”.
In her conclusions, subcommittee chair Hélène Flautre said the main points appeared to be the “independence, especially financial independence” of the Court and hence the question of EU financial support for the Court, as well as the need for political support which could come in the form “dialogue” involving the EP. She thought funding might come from the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, and promised to look into the matter. She also hoped that the chair of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, who had been unable to attend the meeting, would take part on another occasion.
SOURCE : European Parliament
