9. As regards the requirement of prior notice, the Court rightly invokes the need to
ensure juridical security for the beneficiaries of the said declaration,
as well as
protection of the human rights system embodied in the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights:
"In the view of the Court, the provision of a notice period is essential to ensure juridical security
by preventing abrupt suspension of rights which inevitably impact on third parties, in this case,
individuals
and
implementing
human
and
groups
who
instrument
peoples'
are
rights- holders...
This
is more
of the Charter that guarantees
rights
contained
therein
as
well
the
as
so
as the
protection
other
Protocol
and
relevant
is an
enjoyment
human
of
rights
instruments. The suddenness of withdrawal without prior notice therefore has the potential to
weaken
the protection
regime
provided
for in the Charter"
[paragraph.
62.
See
also
paragraphs 60 and 61].
10. With regard to the period of notice, the majority holds that it is inspired by Article
78 of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, which prescribes a one year
notice, and by the corresponding jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, and equally -as we saw-, by Article 56 (2) of the Vienna Convention on the
Law of Treaties, which also provides for a one year notice (paragraphs 65 and 66].
11. Though we agree with the majority view with regard to the need for a period of
notice
that
safeguards
the
rights
of the
beneficiaries
of the
Respondent
State's
declaration, which rights might be affected by an abrupt interruption, it remains rather
difficult to understand why the majority prescribed a one year period for that purpose.
12. In our opinion, this is an excessive deadline which does not find justification under
any principle or any particular circumstance, and the reasons adduced by the Court
are not convincing.
13. The conventional practice and jurisprudence of the Inter-American human rights
system is, like many others, a practice from which we can indeed draw inspiration, but
it cannot
be applied
Convention
for the
without
Protection
prior discussion
of Human
at the African
Rights
and
Court.
In Europe,
the
Fundamental
Freedoms,
for