The Admissibility of Subregional Courts’ Decisions before the African Commission. ..
261
organisations.132 So far, few African states have made declarations under Article
34(6) of the Protocol establishing the African Court to allow individuals and
NGOs to submit cases directly to the African Court.133
The African Commission will, therefore, remain the major organ through
which human rights cases are submitted to the African Court. The Commission’s
referral of cases is discretionary. its Rules of Procedures provide for three
illustrative instances of seizing the African Court with cases.134 First, the
African Commission submits a case to the African Court when a respondent
state fails to implement its recommendations that have been considered by the
Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union within 180
days.135
Second, the African Commission may refer a case to the African Court when
a respondent state fails to comply with provisional measures.136 The African
Charter is silent on provisional measures. However, the African Commission
may order provisional measures to prevent irreparable damage to victims of
human rights violations on the basis of its Rules of Procedures.137 The
Commission has developed the practice of granting provisional measures.138
Third, the African Commission may submit a case that ‘constitutes serious or
massive violations of human rights.’139 Besides, the Commission has an
obligation to refer such cases to the Assembly of Heads of State and
Government.140 In 2011, the African Commission made its first reference under
this rule in African Commission on Human and Peoples ’ Rights v Great
Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.141 The Commission filed an application
before the African Court on the basis of several communications that it received
following the 2011 uprising against Mummar Qadafi’s regime in Libya. In its
132
Compare Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, art 30(c). The
Committee is listed as one of the organs having direct access before the African
Court of Justice and Human Rights.
133
Only Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mali and Tanzania had mad declaration under
article 34(6). See I de Meyer ‘Chart of ratifications: AU human rights treaties,
Position as at 30 April 2012’ (2012) African Human Rights Law Journal, Vol. 12, p. 308.
134African Commission Rules of Procedures, Rule 118.
135Ibid, Rules 112(2) & 118(1).
136Ibid, Rules 98 & 118(2).
137Ibid, Rule 98(1).
138See, for example, International Pen and Others (on behalf of Saro-Wiwa) v Nigeria
(2000) AHRLR 212 (ACHPR 1998), para 8-9; Interights and Others (on behalf of
Bosch) v Botswana (2003) AHRLR 55 (ACHPR 2003), para 10.
139Ibid, rule 118(3).
140African Charter, Article 58.
141
African Commission on Human and Peoples ’ Rights v the Great Socialist Libyan
People’s Arab Jamahiriya, Application No. 004/2011, ruling 2 September 2011.