New African Court judges to be sworn in on Monday
What you need to know:
Judges Bensaoula Chafika from Algeria and Chizumila Rose Tujilane from Malawi replace Justice Fatsah Ouguergouz (Algeria) and Justice Duncan Tambala (Malawi) whose term expired in September, last year.
Two new Arusha-based African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) judges will be sworn in on Monday.
Judges Bensaoula Chafika from Algeria and Chizumila Rose Tujilane from Malawi replace Justice Fatsah Ouguergouz (Algeria) and Justice Duncan Tambala (Malawi) whose term expired in September, last year.
Judges were elected in January during the 28th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
FEMALE JUDGES
Justices Chafika and Tujilane join Lady-Justice Ntyam Ondo Mengue from Cameroon and Lady-Justice Marie Thérése Mukamulisa from Rwanda who were elected to the Court during the 27th AU Summit in October last year in Kigali, Rwanda.
The fifth female judge already at the Court is Lady Justice Solomy Balungi Bossa who was elected in June 2014.
For the first time in the history of AfCHPR, there will be five female judges sitting on the 11-member court.
GENDER BALANCE
The increased number of female judges is per requirement for adequate gender representation provided for in Article 12(2) and Article 14(3) of the Protocol establishing the court.
AfCHPR judges are elected for a term of six-years and renewable once.
The swearing-in of the two new judges will be held at the Kibo Hall at the court premises at the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) building along Dodoma Road in Arusha.
The Court is to hold its 44th Ordinary Session from Monday to March 24.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
The judges will examine about 80 applications and four requests for advisory opinion.
During the session there will be two public hearings in the Application 003/2014 of Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire v Republic of Rwanda on 16 March and Application 012/2015 of Anudo Ochieng Anudo v United Republic of Tanzania on 17 March.
The Court meets four times a year in Ordinary Sessions and may hold Extra-Ordinary Sessions.
125 APPLCIANTS
Up to January 31, the Court had received 125 applications of which 32 have been finalized. Four applications have been transferred to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Only seven countries have allowed NGOs and individuals to use the court in search of justice.
The countries are Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania.
The court celebrated 10 years last year.
