Towards the Realisation of Substantive Justice: Centre for Human Rights Hosts 2024 Conference on Implementing African Court Decisions in Arusha

From21 to 22 June 2024, the Centre for Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (Centre for Human Rights) in collaboration with the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) and the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Coalition) to organise a two-day conference focusing on the implementation of the African Court's decisions. The conference was held at the Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania, coinciding with the 73rd Ordinary session of the African Court.

Members of the African Court’s Registry at the Conference The conference aimed to create a platform for intellectual engagement among human rights scholars, practitioners, state actors, African Union (AU) human rights bodies, and the African Court with the objective of improving compliance with and implementation of the decisions and judgments of the African Court. The focus of the conference was to assess the implementation and broader impact of the African Court's decisions. It also extensively discussed the role of the African Court in implementing its decisions, while highlighting the challenges that may affect the impact of these decisions.

The conference was attended by over 80 participants, including judges of the African Court, staff of the African Court registry, focal points of selected African countries, the Pan-African Parliament, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Network of National Human Rights Institutions, members of the academia, civil society organisations, and relevant non-governmental organisations.

Thirty papers were presented at the conference, covering various themes including: assessing the impact of decisions made by international human rights bodies through conceptual discussions; the role of state focal points in implementing decisions made by African human rights bodies; perspectives on implementing human rights decisions made by AU bodies; comparative analysis of the challenges in implementing decisions made by international human rights bodies; the African Court's role in monitoring the implementation of its decisions; the role of other actors in implementing decisions made by the African Court; broader discussions on the influence of the African Court's decisions; and case studies on the influence of the African Court's decisions.

In her opening remarks, Acting Director of the Centre, Professor Murungi called for a reflection on the underlying factors for the lack of implementation and what can be done to improve compliance. She highlighted the importance of fostering a culture of the rule of law and addressing the emerging pushback on the human rights agenda, both within Africa and globally. The Vice President of the African Court, Justice Modibo Sacko stressed the need for a collective effort from member states of the African Union, various organs, academia, civil society organizations, and the media to address the issue of non-implementation. He underscored the importance of debating and collaborating to ensure that these decisions are implemented effectively.

The Conference adopted a communique that encapsulated the key recommendations emerging from the Conference. The Conference recommendations provide a detailed plan for improving the implementation of the African Court's decisions. Some of the key recommendations include enacting a model law on the implementation of decisions by the PAP, allocating sufficient resources at the national level for the implementation of decisions of supra-national bodies, improving political commitments by African states, strengthening institutional capacity at the national level, improving inter-agency coordination, increased advocacy for implementation of decisions, monitoring progress and implementation status, supporting victims of lack of implementation, the use of technology in tracking and increasing the visibility of implementation status, improved complementarity among Africa human rights bodies, the embeddedness of decisions of African Court’s decisions in national jurisprudence and encouraging collaboration among stakeholders.

During the Conference, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Centre and the African Court was renewed. Participants also had the opportunity to visit the African Court on an excursion led by Justice Adjei. This visit provided the participants with a firsthand experience of the African Court and offered them important information about its operations.

The Conference is part of the Centre for Human Rights efforts to improve the implementation and impact of the jurisprudence of African human rights bodies through a series of annual implementation conferences on the decisions of African human rights bodies in collaboration with African human rights bodies. The Centre’s Litigation and Implementation Unit organized the conference in close collaboration with the African Court and the Coalition. The Conference was supported by the Open Society Foundations, GIZ, and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute.