10.
Having declared that it manifestly lacks jurisdiction to consider the
Application, the Court decided to transfer the latter to the African Commission
relying on Article 6 (3) of the Protocol, which provides that “the Court may
consider cases or transfer them to the Commission”.
11.
The practice of such a transfer was established by the Court in its decision
regarding its jurisdiction in respect of the abovementioned Application N°
002/2011. The Court upheld the practice when, at the same session, it dealt with
Applications N° 005/2011 (Daniel Amare & Mulugeta Amare vs Mozambique
Airlines & Mozambique) and N° 006/2011 (Association des Juristes d’ Afrique
pour la bonne gouvernance vs Céte d’Ivoire), and also declared that it manifestly
lacks jurisdiction to consider such applications.
12.
In my view, the transfer to the African Commission of an application in
respect of which the Court found that it manifestly lacks jurisdiction is not
founded in law. I hold that this transfer does not appear to be consistent with
Article 6 of the Protocol, when interpreted according to the general rules of
interpretation as set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
13.
Indeed, the heading of this Article 6 (“Admissibility of Cases”) strongly
suggests that the action available to the Court, in paragraph 3, applies primarily
to the consideration of the admissibility of a case over which the jurisdiction of
the
Court
has
already
been
established.
Unfortunately,
the
“travaux
préparatoires” of the Protocol do not shed any light on the meaning to be
attributed to the said paragraph 3; the first version of this paragraph read that
“the Court may itself consider cases or transfer them to the Commission ”.”
14.
When read in that context, this paragraph allows the Court either to
consider, on its own, the admissibility of an application which is within its
jurisdiction or to entrust consideration of the said admissibility to the African
Commission. In the latter assumption, the Court would be assigning to the
Commission a broader responsibility beyond that envisaged in Article 6 (1).
2 Article 6 of the Draft Protocol, as adopted by the first meeting of Governmental Legal
Experts (Cape Town, South Africa, 6-12 September 1995), see Draft Protocol to the African
Charter on Human and Peoples ’Rights on the Establishment of an African Court of Human
and
Peoples’Rights,
adopted
by
the
Meeting
of Government
Legal
Experts
Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’Rights, 6-12 September
Cape Town, South Africa, DOC OAU/LEG/EXP/AFC/HPR/PRO (I) Rev. 1.
on
the
1995,