Communication 341/07 - Equality Now v Ethiopia
over six months to get the same. They also stated that while awaiting the official
copy of the said decision, they hired a local lawyer to collect all official Court
decisions from all the relevant Courts that heard this matter, including the Guna
Woreda Court, the Arsi Zone High Court, and the Oromiya Supreme Court whose
language of instruction is Oromiya. They state that getting all the official records in
all these Courts took time due to Government bureaucracy.
69.
Furthermore, the Complainants submit that once these documents were received
towards the end of 2006, they had to be officially translated from Oromiya and
Amharic into English, for purposes of analysis and presentation to the Commission.
They argue that given the circumstances mentioned above, the Communication was
filed before the Commission within reasonable time, and also that they have
subsequently met all deadlines for submissions since the filing of the
Communication.
70.
In terms of Article 56(7), the Complainants submit that the Communication does
not deal with a case involving the Respondent State that has already been settled in
accordance with the principles of the United Nations or the Charter of the OAU or
the African Charter, and also that the Communication has not been brought before
another international or regional mechanism for consideration.
71.
The Complainants submit that in 2008, at the request of the Respondent State, the
Commission facilitated an amicable settlement between the Parties, whereupon the
Complainants, on behalf of the Victim, raised concerns and conditions for
settlement.
They state however that despite several discussions and
communications on behalf of the Victim over a period of five years, the Respondent
State failed to meet the conditions laid out for settlement, and in fact failed to
respond in writing to the Complainants' concerns. They therefore requested the
African Commission to make a determination on the Admissibility of the matter.
THE AFRICAN COMMISSION'S ANALYSIS ON ADMISSIBILITY
72.
The Admissibility of Communications submitted before the African Commission in
accordance with Article 55 of the Charter, is governed by the requirements of
Article 56 of the same Charter, which sets out seven conditions which must be
cumulatively complied with, for any Communication to be Admissible. Failure to
satisfy any one or more of the above requirements renders the Communication
inadmissible, unless the Complainant provides sufficient justifications as to why
any of the requirements could not be met.