• His Excellency Mr. Rui Mangueira, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of the Republic of Angola, Minister of the Republic of Angola,
• Honourable Zainabo Sylvie Kayitesi, Chairperson of the African Commission,
• Honourable, Vice Chairperson and Members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights,
• Her Excellency Dr. Aisha L Abdullahi, Commissioner for Political Affairs of the African Union Commission,
• Honourable Members of the Government of the Republic of Angola,
• Honourable Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Justice,
•Excellences, Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps accredited to Angola
• Distinguished Delegates of African Union Member States,
• Distinguished Representatives of International Organisations,
• Distinguished Representatives of National Human Rights Institutions,
• Distinguished Representatives of Non-governmental Organisations,
• Distiinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
1. I bring you warm greetings from the President of the Court and from my other colleagues, Judges of the African Court. I feel particularly honored to have been requested by the President to represent the Court at this 55th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
2. This is the first time I am attending a session of the Commission, and it is particularly significant to me, given the fact that my term as Judge of the Court will come to an end in September of this year, and as such, this is likely to be the last time I attend this august assembly as a representative of the Court. I therefore attach a lot of significance to this occasion.
3. That the Court continues to be invited to your sessions and accorded the opportunity to address the Commission, and the entire African human rights family, is highly appreciated. It is a concrete expression of the complementarity relationship between our two institutions envisaged in the Protocol establishing the Court.
Excellencies
Madam Chairperson
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
4. Since the harmonization of our Rules of Procedures in 2010, there has been significant interactions between our two institutions, and we now better understand the role of each other in our complementary relationship. The Bureaus of our two institutions have met six times, while the two institutions have met twice. The Commission has filed three cases before the Court, and may be appearing before the latter to make oral arguments later this year with respect to one of those cases.
5. The rich jurisprudence of the Commission has been widely used to strengthen the jurisprudence of the Court. At all the public hearings organized by the Court, as well as in their written pleadings, counsel for the parties have placed reliance on the Commission's jurisprudence. This jurisprudence has been reflected in some of the judgments of the Court. As the Court continues to receive more cases, it will no doubt continue to refer to this rich reservoir of jurisprudence developed by the Commission.
6, The co-operation between our two organs go beyond just the building of human rights jurisprudence; it translates into the general development of the African Human Rights system. This was shown during the last AU Summit in January 2014 when the Commission and the Court, jointly, requested the AU Assembly to declare 2016 as Africa Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the rights of women.
7. The Executive Council adopted a decision on the same and requested the Commission and the Court, in collaboration with relevant organs with human rights mandate, to submit a concept note on the celebration. I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the Registry of the Court, the Secretariat of the Commission, the Secretariat of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights of the Child, the Gender Directorate and the Department of Political Affairs, for preparing the first draft of the concept paper, I am glad to report that members of the Court have made their inputs to the draft, and we call on those organs that have not already done so, to submit their comments to the Registry of the Court, before 12 May 2014, as the final document has to be submitted to the African Union Commission by 21 May 2014.
8. It should be recalled that 2016 is a veritable watershed in the continental human rights trajectory: 2016 marks the 35th Anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter in 1981; the 30th Anniversary of the entry into force of the African Charter in 1986; the 29thAnniversary of the operationalization of the Commission in 1987 (in 2016 the Commission will be just one year shy of its 30th anniversary). The year 2016 also marks the 10thAnniversary of the operationalization of the African Court.
The adoption of the Maputo Protocol ushered in a new thinking in addressing gender inequality and the rights of women in Africa. In 2016, the Protocol will be 13 years old.
9. The declaration of 2016 as "African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the rights of Women" seeks to provide an opportunity for the entire continent to be engaged in, and take stock, of the human rights situation on the continent in general, and the situation of the human rights of women in particular. The celebration seeks to, among other things: enhance public awareness about human rights; assess the ratification and implementation of the human rights instruments, in particular, the Maputo Protocol, and the progress made in advancing the rights of women since the adoption of the Protocol; encourage Member States to develop policies, plans of actions and programmes on the promotion and protection of human and peoples' rights, and specific programmes with the intention of integrating women in all spheres of life, so as to boost the development of women in Africa; encourage Member States to recommit to the promotion and protection of human rights.
10. It is therefore an opportunity for all stakeholders interested in the promotion and protection of human rights on the Continent, to find a way of contributing to this initiative. While the initiative is from the Commission and the Court, it has now gained the status of a Continental initiative and all stakeholders are therefore invited to make their contributions.
Excellencies
Madam Chairperson
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
11. The Court and the Commission continue to work in many other ways to promote and protect human rights on the continent; for instance, we have made it a point that at each Ordinary Summit of the African Union, we organize a joint press conference in which both the President of the Court, and Chairperson of the Commission, address and take questions from the press. At the last summit, we also organized a joint exhibition, in collaboration with the Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Department of Political Affairs.
Excellencies
Madam Chairperson
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
I can assure you that we are on a good course and as we meet regularly and further strengthen our relationship, the development of a viable human rights culture on the continent will become a reality and not remain a dream. To achieve this, we need the support of all stakeholders, especially Member States.
Excellencies
Madam Chairperson
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
13.I wish to use this platform to address the distinguished delegates from Member States of our Union, especially those States that have not yet ratified the Protocol establishing the Court and made the declaration allowing individuals and NGOs to bring cases directly to the Court.
14. Today, more than fifteen years after the adoption of the Protocol establishing the Court, only twenty seven (27) of the fifty four (54) Member States of the African Union have ratified it. [With your permission, I would like to read them - they are: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo, Cote d'ivoire, Comoros, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Sawahari Arab Republic, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo and Tunisia]. Of the 27 State Parties to the Protocol, only seven, namely: Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda and Tanzania have deposited the Article 34(6) declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the Court to receive cases from individuals and non-governmental organizations.
15.In practice therefore, the Court has jurisdiction to receive cases from individuals and NGOs, only against these seven countries, thus depriving the vast majority of potential victims of human rights violations, direct access to the Court.
16. At the moment, the Court relies to a large extent on the Commission, which has direct access to the Court, to file cases against States that have ratified the Protocol, but have not yet made the declaration.
17. I therefore call on those Member States that have not yet don so, to urgently ratify the Protocol and/or make the declaration, if they are truly committed to the protection of human rights in their countries and on the Continent as a whole.
Excellencies
Madam Chairperson
Distinguished Guests, ladies and Gentlemen
18. Let me end by thanking the Commission for the invitation extended to the Court and to congratulate it on the contribution it has made, and continues to make, towards the development of the African human rights jurisprudence.
People of Africa and distinguished guests here present, 19.Let me, on behalf of
