Chad has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Protocol on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Right, bringing the number of African Union (AU) member states to have ratified it to 30.

The instrument was signed on January 27 by Chadian President Idris Deby Itno and immediately deposited at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to a statement.

The ratification was pledged by President Deby when he met the president of the court, Justice Augustino Ramadhani, in N’djamena during a sensitisation visit to the country in December.

Deby assumed the AU annual rotating chairmanship last week in Addis Ababa from President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

The other states that have ratified the protocol are: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Gabon and The Gambia.

Others are Ghana; Kenya, Libya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Arab Saharawi Republic, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo and Tunisia.

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was established by the AU to enhance the protection of human and peoples’ rights in Africa.

In addition to the ratification of the protocol, states have to make a declaration under Article 34(6) of the protocol to allow individuals and NGOs to bring cases directly before the court.

Without such declaration, the court would have no jurisdiction over cases brought by individuals and NGOs.

So far, only seven states have made the declaration; Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Tanzania and Rwanda.

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 was adopted on June 9, 1998, in Burkina Faso and came into force on January 25, 2004. 

The court started operations in November 2006.

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