~C":~)ACHPR
4'
mHO;'
African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rinhts
Human Rights our
Collective Responsibility
exhaust the remedy presented by the EHRC since it may be available, but it is not
effective and sufficient.P
65. The Commission notes the Respondent State's contention that its national courts
are also available for the Complainants to have approached before bringing a
Compliant to the Commission. The Complainants provide at least four reasons
why they consider the courts in the Respondent State to be remedies that are
unavailable, ineffective and insufficient. The Complainants allege that the
Victims and the NGOs which could have acted on their behalf fear that there will
be consequences for bringing an action against the government before the courts.
66. The Complainants also allege that the courts are physically and financially
inaccessible to the Victims. While they concede that access to the courts have
improved since 2004, the Complainants insist that the Victims cannot afford to
engage a lawyer and no member of their communitiesjs a lawyer. It is also
submitted that the Respondent State's legal system does not have any procedure
for claiming collective rights. The Complainants have also alleged that by the
operation of the Ethiopian Charities and Societies Proclamation, foreign NGOs
cannot enter into the territory of the Respondent State to litigate on behalf of the
Victims.
67. The Commission recalls its early jurisprudence that in certain conditions where
terror and fear exist it would be illogical to require the exhaustion of local
remedies.l+ Fear of reprisals against Victims and/ or their lawyers is sufficient
evidence that local remedies are not accessible. In the present Communication,
the Commission notes that the Complainants cite reports of the Campaign for
Reform of the World Bank and Amnesty International regarding an alleged
general climate of fear prevailing among civil society groups in the Respondent
State. However, the Complainants do not adduce any evidence of specific threat
to the Victims or anyone acting on their behalf regarding an attempt to approach
the courts over the facts leading to the present Complaint.
68. As the Commission noted in Anuak Justice Council v Ethiopia= beyond statements
of apprehension based on general reports, the Complainant needs to adduce
concrete evidence and demonstrate that the apprehension alleged is founded on
actual risk. Against the fact that the Complainants have failed to offer any
evidence that there is a basis for the alleged fear, the Commission is unable to