Challenges and Prospects of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights

Abstract

The idea to merge the African Court of Human and Peoples Rights with theAfrican Court of Justice to form a new judicial body called African Court ofJustice and Human Rights was initiated by the then Chairperson of the AfricanUnion and former President of Nigeria; Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004. The majorarguments of President Obasanjo for merging the two courts included costsavings and a need to rationalise pan-African institutions. Four yeas after theprotocol was adopted, the court still lacks the minimum number of 15 Statesratifications for it to enter into force. This again is a reflection of theunwillingness of African leaders to fast track human rights promotion andprotection in the continent. The Protocol of this court appears to entrenchsweeping powers on the Court to try all cases involving human rights violationsin the continent and this will mean an abrupt end for the era of impunity forpolitical leaders in Africa. Even though the protocol is yet to receive theminimum number of ratifications, the court have already started functioningbased on the transition arrangement enshrined in Article 1 of the mergerprotocol. This paper therefore will espouse the challenges and prospects of themerged African Court of Justice and Human Rights.