I. THE PARTIES 1. Salif Traoré and Sékou Oumar Coulibaly (hereinafter referred to as “the Applicants”), are both Malian nationals and police officers. They allege that the Minister of Internal Security and Civil Protection (hereinafter “Minister of Internal Security”) unlawfully refused to accept their applications as trainee superintendents for purposes of being upgraded to the officer corps pursuant to the Decree No. 06-053-/P-RM of 6 February 2006 setting out the special provisions applicable to the various corps of the National Police (hereinafter “Decree of 6 February 2006) issued by the president of the republic. 2. The Application is filed against the Republic of Mali (hereinafter referred to as “the Respondent State”), which became a Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter “the Charter”) on 21 October 1986 and to the Protocol on 20 June 2000. On 19 February 2010, it also deposited the Declaration provided for in Article 34(6) of the Protocol (hereinafter referred to as “the Declaration”), by virtue of which it accepts the Court’s jurisdiction to receive applications from individuals and Non-Governmental Organizations (hereinafter referred to as “NGOs”) which have observer status before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”). II. SUBJECT OF THE APPLICATION A. Facts of the matter 3. It emerges from the Application that on 16 December 2002, the President of the Republic of the Respondent State promulgated Law No. 02-056 on the status of officers of the National Police. 4. In application of the said law, the government issued the Decree of 6 February 2006, whose articles 46 and subsequent articles set out the 2