b.
Are compatible with the Constitutive Act of the African Union and
with the Charter;
c.
Are not written in disparaging or insulting language directed
against the State concerned and its institutions or the African
Union;
d.
Are not based exclusively on news disseminated through the
mass media;
e.
Are sent after exhausting local remedies, if any, unless it is
obvious that this procedure is unduly prolonged;
f.
Are submitted within a reasonable time from the date local
remedies were exhausted or from the date set by the Court as
being the commencement of the time limit within which it shall
be seized with the matter; and
g.
Do not deal with cases which have been settled by those States
involved in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the
United Nations, or the Constitutive Act of the African Union, or
the provisions of the Charter.
33. The Respondent State raises an objection to the admissibility of the
Application in relation to non-exhaustion of local remedies. The Court will
therefore consider the said objection before examining other conditions of
admissibility if necessary.
A. Objection based on non-exhaustion of local remedies
34. Citing the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”) in Southern African
Human rights NGO Network and Others v. Tanzania, the Respondent State
submits that the exhaustion of local remedies is an essential principle in
international law and that the principle requires a complainant to “utilise all
legal remedies” in the domestic courts before seizing the international body
like the Court.
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