250 Mizan Law Review Vol. 6 No.2, December 2012 right to participation of the people which is guaranteed under Article 13 of the African Charter although it did not refer to the latter. The protocol that would trigger the human rights jurisdiction of the EACJ was drafted in 2007 by the EAC Secretariat.62 However, it has not come into force yet. Recent developments in the region show that pressure was exerted on the EAC to expand the jurisdiction of the EACJ to cover human rights cases.63 1.3. The SADC Tribunal The Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Conference, a loose association of states, was created in 1980 in Lusaka, Zambia.64 The Conference was transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 1992 in Windhoek, Namibia.65 The state parties to the Treaty establishing SADC were aware of the need to observe human rights to involve their people in regional integration.66 The Treaty requires SADC and its Member States to act in accordance with ‘human rights, democracy and the rule of law.’67 It establishes the SADC Tribunal along with seven other institutions.68 The SADC Tribunal is vested with the judicial power of the Community.69 It was established to interpret the provisions of the SADC Treaty and its subsidiary instruments,’70 with both contentious and advisory jurisdiction.71 The SADC Treaty and the Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure thereof 62Solomon T Ebobrah (2010), ‘Human rights developments in African sub-regional economic communities during 2009’ African Human Rights Law Journal , Vol. 10, p. 240. 63Ibid. 64 Munetsi Madakufamba (2007), ‘SADC in the twenty-first century’, Open Space: a digest of Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa vol. 2 p. 90. See also Viljoen, supra note 1, p. 492. 65Mbugua Mureithi ‘The Impact of regional courts in Africa in fostering regional integration and the development of international human rights jurisprudence’ in George Mukundi Wachira (ed.) (2007), Judiciary Watch Report: Regional and Sub­ regional Platforms for Vindicating Human Rights in Africa (Nirobi: Kenyan Section of International Commission of Jurists), p. 84; Madakufamba, supra note 64, p. 91. 66SADC Treaty , preamble. 67 SADC Treaty, Art 4 (c). 68 SADC Treaty, Art 9 (1). 69 SADC Treaty, Art 9. 70 SADC Treaty, Art 16(1); Art 14, Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure thereof. 71 SADC Treaty, Art 16(1) & (4).