Justice Initiative Role in New African Human Rights Court

Justice Initiative to Assist in Creating African Human Rights Court

Abuja, December 22, 2003—A working group on establishing an African Court of Human Rights will include the Open Society Justice Initiative. The “African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights” looks set to come into being following the official approval of a thirteenth country, Libya, on December 9. The Court would rule on the 1982 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which all members of the African Union (AU) are signed up to. The working group, established on December 10 by a Commission which oversees the Charter, is mandated to compile practices from AU member states on how best to run the court and nominate judges. In addition to the Justice Initiative, the working group includes the National Human Rights Commission of Uganda, the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA), the Ditshwanelo Botswana Centre for Human Rights, the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, and the Federation Internationale des droits de l’homme (FIDH). The group is also asked to build a continent-wide coalition behind the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.