Judge Rafaâ Ben Achour, a Tunisian national, was elected Judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in June 2014 for a six-year term. He was subsequently re-elected in 2021 for a second six-year term.
He is Professor Emeritus of Public Law at the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences of the University of Carthage (Tunisia) and Honorary Director of the Laboratory of International Law, International Jurisdictions and Comparative Constitutional Law, which he founded in 1992.
Judge Ben Achour holds a postgraduate diploma in public law (1978), a postgraduate diploma in political science (1979), a Doctorat d’Etat in international law (1984) and an Agrégation in public law and political science from the University of Tunis (1987).
He was previously University President, Minister and Ambassador. He is the author of several books and articles on law. Until 2010, he was an African Union consultant on the transformation of the AU Commission into the AU Authority.
Judge Ben Achour was a member of the African Union Commission on International Law (CUADI) from 2009 to 2014. He is a member of the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg (2003). He is a founding member of the International Academy of Constitutional Law, of which he was Secretary-General from 1986 to 1996. He was also a member of the Council of the United Nations University from 2001 to 2007 and an alternate member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) from 2011 to 2014.
Judge Ben Achour has received several awards in Tunisia and abroad. Judge Ben Achour was the recipient of the 2023 Spienza Human Rights Award
