Thursday 14 November 2013


 

UNIÃO AFRICANA

AFRICAN COURT ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
COUR AFRICAINE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME ET DES PEUPLES
P.O Box 6274 Arusha, Tanzania Telephone: +255 732 979 551 Fax. +255 732 979 503




The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Court) is organizing a Continental Judicial Dialogue with National Judiciaries from 18 to 20 November 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. The  Dialogue will bring together Members of the continental institutions of the African human rights system, relevant African Union Organs, Chief Justices/Presidents of Supreme and Constitutional Courts; and other representatives of national jurisdictions of African Union Member States as well as Members of African Sub-regional Courts.

The objective of the Dialogue is to enhance discussions between these institutions to ensure protection of human and peoples’ rights in Africa. In the course of the 3 day dialogue, Members of the Court, representatives of the African judiciaries and other continental institutions involved in the field of human rights and international law, will share information on the best practices of continental, sub-regional courts and national courts, on the African human rights system, particularly the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and discuss how to enhance  the interaction and collaboration between continental human rights bodies, regional and national courts with a view to establishing a framework for practical and institutionalized cooperation.

In that regard, participants to the Dialogue  will specifically discuss, among others, the African human rights system and its continental bodies, the interactions between national, regional and international courts such as through the principles of subsidiarity, exhaustion of local remedies, complementarity and referrals for interpretation, procedures and practices in application of continental and regional human rights instruments by national courts,  enforcement of decisions and recommendations of continental and regional human rights bodies by national courts and institutions, advisory jurisdiction of regional and continental courts and quasi-judicial institutions vis-à-vis national institutions.

The opening ceremony for the Dialogue will take place on 18November 2013 at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), Simba Hall, and is expected to be graced by the presence of high ranking officials of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania.  It is proposed that Honourable Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda,  Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania will give the keynote address and statements will be made by Honourable, Justice Mohammed Chande Othman, Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania, Honourable Lady Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo, President of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights,  Honourable Justice Bernard M. Ngoepe, Vice President of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Honourable Clement Julius Mashamba, Member of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

The  Dialogue follows a series of sensitization activities the Court has organized since 2010, aimed at creating awareness among stakeholders, including in particular, the Colloquium of Regional African Human Rights Courts and Similar Institutions, held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 4-6 October 2010, the Continental Conference on the Promotion of the Court held in Lilongwe Malawi, from 9 to 11 March 2011, the Consultative and Sensitization Seminar for National Human Rights Institutions in Africa, held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 16 to 18 November 2011, the Regional Sensitization Seminar for North and Eastern Africa organized in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, from 22 to 24 August 2012, the Continental Consultative and Sensitization Seminar on the promotion of the Court for Women Human Rights NGOs in Africa, held from 24 to 26 April2013, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and Regional Sensitization Seminar on the Promotion of the African Court in West Africa held in Abidjan from 8 to 10 May 2013.