Arusha, 23 June, 2016: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR)
today started a week-long joint workshop to exchange judicial experiences in Arusha, Tanzania.
Opening the workshop, the Registrar of AfCHPR Dr Robert Eno, said that the experience-sharing meeting would encourage and strengthen the friendly bonds existing between the two courts.
‘’This will open doors to explore new avenues of judicial co-operation between our two institutions,’’ he said.
He assured of the African Court’s readiness to learn from the European Court’s practical experience of over half a century.
The European Court’s facilitators are Mr Attila Teplan, Head of Legal Department, and Mr
John Hunter, Head of ICT Services.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a regional human rights judicial body based in Strasbourg, France. The Court began operating in 1959 and has delivered more than 10,000 judgments regarding alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
2. In 1998, the European human rights system was reformed to eliminate the European Commission of Human Rights, which previously decided the admissibility of complaints, oversaw friendly settlements, and referred some cases to the Court – in a manner similar to the current Inter-American System. Now, individual victims may submit their complaints directly to the European Court of Human Rights.
3. The European Court, or “Strasbourg Court” as it is often called, serves a complementary role to that of the European Committee of Social Rights, which oversees European States’ respect for social and economic rights.
4. The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Court) is a continental court established by African countries to ensure protection of human and peoples’ rights in Africa. It complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
5. The Court was established by virtue of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, (the Protocol) which was adopted by Member States of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in June 1998. The Protocol came into force on 25 January 2004 after it was ratified by more than 15 countries.
