Chad President says will ratify African rights protocol

Chad will on 30^th of December make a declaration to allow individuals and NGOs to access the Pan-African Human Rights Court based in Arusha, Tanzania, President Idriss Deby has announced.

The Chadian president made the assurance when he received the President of the African Court Justice, Augustino Ramadhani, at the State House in N’djamena at the weekend.

President Deby lauded the work of the Rights Court and its activities, saying this encouraged him to ratify the Protocol, as required under Article 34(6), according to a press statement issued by the Court.

Since the adoption of the protocol in June 1998 (more than 16 years ago), twenty 29 of the 54 Member States of the African Union have ratified it and only seven State Parties to the Protocol have made the Declaration.

The countries which have ratified the protocol by 23 December, 2015 are: Algeria; Benin; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire; Comoros; Congo; Gabon; The Gambia; Ghana; Kenya; Libya; Lesotho; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mozambique; Nigeria; Niger; Uganda; Rwanda; Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic; Senegal; South Africa; Tanzania; Togo; and Tunisia.

The seven States which have made the declaration are: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda and Tanzania. Chad will be the 8^th.

Justice Ramadhani, Tanzania’s former Chief Justice, thanked the President of Chad for the assurance of the ratification of the protocol and the declaration.

He also thanked the government of Chad for hosting of the Court’s Central African Regional Sensitization seminar 15-16 December, 2015 in N’djamena. The forum was attended by over 100 delegates including government officials, relevant ministries, Bar Associations and the Human Rights Commissions from Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

The seminar was preceded by a one-day sensitization for senior Chadian Journalists and Editors on 14 December, 2015.

Since December 2010, the Court has carried out continent-wide promotion programmes which have so far seen it hold 24 sensitization visits and 9 regional and continental seminars and conferences.

The main objective of the sensitization visits is to enhance the protection of human rights in Africa. Specific objectives include: raising public awareness about the Court; encouraging the ratification and the deposit of the declaration; sensitizing would-be applicants on how to access the Court and the procedures before the Court; encouraging the public to utilize the Court in settling human rights disputes and encouraging the utilization of the Court to render advisory opinions.