JANUARY 29/2004

With 15 African Union member states agreeing, the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights have seen the light of day on January 27 and may start work/dealing with cases/ as early as next July. Other member states are expected to ratify and be part of those falling under the court's jurisdiction.

Good intentions have never been scarce in Africa. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights was ratified by member states but few are those regimes that have desisted from violating the human rights of the people. SOCEPP has for years documented the gross violation of rights by the authorities in Ethiopia who have yet to agree to be part of the new court agreement. A court to deal with human rights violations in Africa is, at face value, a very positive development. However, the sad and cruel reality of everyday African life makes it clear that intentions and what really happens do not tally. It is thus imperative to point out that the respect of human rights must first be assured and made real as setting up a court by the very forces who violate the rights would be a cruel joke. The OAUY and now the AU are more or less proving irrelevant or marginal to the ordinary African because the political union promised has failed to materialize. Good governance and democracy have remained unattainable and with this basic pillar missing other good intentions and declarations have remained unrealizable.

SOCEPP believes that an all-African court cannot be the first and effective instrument of safeguarding the human rights of Africans. The regimes in place must first of all prove that they are in reality respecting the basic human rights of the people, must show that they respect the charter on rights adopted by the AU member states. Otherwise, the court set up on January 27 will once again disappoint the African people as a whole by being powerless and irrelevant.

SOCEPP