The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Court) was established in terms 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 (hereinafter referred to as “the Protocol”), adopted on 9 June 1998, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by the then Organization of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU). The Protocol entered into force on 25 January 2004.