LLB Research Projects (2017)

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Browsing LLB Research Projects (2017) by Author "Jelle, Maimuna Dubow"

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    The Emergence of international judiciaries in Sub-Regional Africa: the case of EAC, ECOWAS and SADC
    (Strathmore University, 2017-01) Jelle, Maimuna Dubow
    International human rights litigation in Africa is evolving in ways that few could have foreseen only a decade ago. Human rights attorneys and civil society groups now focus much of their advocacy efforts not on the judicial and quasi-judicial bodies of the African Charter on human rights system, (the African Court and Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) but on sub regional courts associated with economic integration communities in East, West, and Southern Africa. The East African Court of Justice (EACJ), the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have received few suits challenging trade restrictions and barriers to trade in the sub-regional sphere. Instead, and surprisingly, these courts’ dockets are dominated by complaints alleging violations of international human rights law. The sub-regional economic courts (also known as Regional Economic courts, from here henceforth known as SRICS, Sub-Regional International Courts) in West, East, and Southern Africa share a number of similarities. These judiciaries were not created to hear cases alleging violations of international human rights law. Instead, they were tasked with improving the enforcement of the regional integration, regional trade, and thus as a result of this mandate they are known as sub-regional economic courts (SRICs). For the EACJ and the SADC Tribunal, the variation to human rights occurred through a purposive interpretation of the governing treaties’ principles and objectives clauses adopted by sub-regional judges in response to advocacy by law societies and private litigants. In West Africa, the expansion into human rights resulted from an extrajudicial advocacy campaign by international judges, civil society groups, and Community officials to convince member states to broaden the ECOWAS Court’s jurisdiction. In West Africa, the consideration into human rights resulted from an advocacy campaign by international judges, civil society groups, and Community officials to convince member states to broaden the ECOWAS Court’s jurisdiction. In effect, the SRICs have introduced a new layer of supranational protection and promotion of human rights in Africa. These courts now play an important role in the protection of human rights through the determination of human rights cases. This study underscores the significance of this role and its impact on the protection of human rights in Africa