- Honourable Judges and staff of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
- Distinguished representatives of the Member States of the African Union.
- Honourable representatives of the African Governance Architecture Platform.
- Distinguished participants of this video conference in your respective capacities.
- It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to deliver this opening address to launch the third strategic plan of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for the period 2021-2025.
- First of all, I would like to thank all of you who have accepted our invitation to take part in this event and share with us this important moment. A moment where we make known to the World how we, at the African Court, intend to contribute to the continual improvement of the continental human rights landscape.
- Building on the bold vision of our Judges, Registry staff and of the many stakeholders we have consulted, this Strategic Plan charts the different steps we will take to increase our efficiency and effectiveness, with the ambition of gradually deepening the public’s trust in the African Court.
- We aim to achieve a greater confidence by African citizens, states and institutions in the African human rights system through a combination of initiatives and mechanisms that build on the core principle on which this Court has been founded: “complementarity”.
- Taking this principle to heart, we have envisaged a path for the African Court to work much more closely with its various stakeholders, to build on each other’s capacity, to learn from each other’s experiences, to avoid a duplication of efforts and instead reinforce each other’s strengths. Afterall, we believe that the ultimate goal is to collectively improve the human rights landscape in Africa.
- This will involve closer engagement with national human rights stakeholders, such as national courts, governments, parliaments, national human rights institutions, NGOs including those operating at the regional and continental level, bar associations, academia and the media. It will also entail closer cooperation with African Governance Architecture Platform Members, most notably the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Regional Economic Community Courts. And we also envisage to enhance our collaboration with international partners, such as the United Nations human rights bodies and European and Inter-American human rights courts and institutions.
- We anticipate that the concrete and practical forms of engagement outlined in this Strategic Plan will translate the abstract ideas of complementarity and synergy into real shifts of thinking and acting in the daily lives of the Judges and staff of the African Court, and of the Court’s partners in fulfilling the common goal of protecting human rights. This common commitment is a result of the truism that the responsibility to protect human rights is a burden that is made light when shared by many.
- So, in pursuit of this shared objective the African Court will remain open but also actively seek out new ways to strengthen the complementary nature of its human rights protection mandate.
- It is expected that in five years’ time this will result in an African Court that can present tangible evidence of its increased efficiency and effectiveness, which will in turn have led to greater credibility in the capacity of the AU human rights system to make a positive difference in the lives of African individuals and peoples.
- Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, let me emphasise one point. An idea is only as valuable as its execution! This plan has been developed in a way that tried to ensure the greatest ownership possible. We now hope that this shared privilege of shaping the blueprint of the future of the African Court will translate into a shared responsibility to successfully execute this plan and together build the African Court we want.
- I thank you for your attention.