ffilrta
a
the appropriate compensation is pecuniary compensation; and this is the solution
: chosen by the Court
in the instant case.
11. Article 27(1) of the Protocol to the Charter on the Establishment of an African
Court cn Human and Peoples' Rights (hereinafter referred to as "the protocoi")
states that. "/f the Court finds that there has been viotation of a human or peoples, rights, it
shall make appropriate orders to remedy the violation, including the payment of fair
compensation or reparation". lt is clear from that article that the Court has full discretion
to determine measures of reparation such that can "remedy the situation,,.
o
o
12. Compared with similar Articles of the European Convention (Article 41) and the
lnter-American Convention (Article 63 S 1), the afore-cited Article 27 of the protocol
is rather generous and is very similar to Article 61 of the lnter-American
Conventionll. As we indicated earlier, Article 41 of the European Convention does
not confer on the European Court of Human Rights the possibility of pronouncing
'Just satisfaction" save where "the domestic law allows for the erasure of the
consequences of a violation and, even in such a case, only " if it is necessary " to do so. ln
other words, the award of just satisfaction does not flow automatically from the
finding by the European Court of Human Rights that there has been a violation of a
right guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. For this reason,
the European Court very rarely pronounced an Applicant's release. ln contrast,
Article 63(1) of the lnter-American Convention is quite liberal in as much as it states
that: "When it recognizes that a right or freedom protected by this Convention has been
violated, the Court shall order that the party iniured be granted the enjoyment of the rights
or freedoms infringed. lt will also order, where appropriate, the reparation of the
consequences of the measure or the situation which gave rise to the violation of the said
rights and the payment of fair compensation to the injured party.,,
13. Even if the Protocol does not speak, like the lnter-American Convention, of the
possibility for the Court "to order that the injured pafty be guaranteed the enjoyment of
the
right or freedom violated", Article 27 speaks of "appropriate measures to remedy the
violation", which amounts to the same thing.
14-
lt is generally accepted in doctrinel2 and in jurisprudence that release or re-
opening of proceedings is necessary only where the Court is of the view that there is
no proportionality between the full reparation sought and the violation found,
especially if it concerns only one aspect of the right to a fair trial which could not, in
11
See in this sense TIGoUJDA (Helen). "The Reparation of Human Rights Violations: the practice
of Regional
and Universal Bodies"- Audiovisual Library of lnternational Law, http://legal.u n.org/avl/ls/Tigroudja_HR.html#
12
SHELTON (Dinah), Remedies in International Human Rights law, Axford,University presq zna edition,
2009.
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