the Commission is requested to directly interpret and apply the said treaty
alongside or independent of a finding on the Charter. With regard to their
submissions on admissibility, this Commission considers that the present
Complainants invol<e the Maputo Protocol in this fashion.
44. Accordingly, the issue at stake in this Communication is to determine whether
the Commission is competent to interpret and apply the provisions of the
Maputo Protocol during consideration of Communications.
45. To that end, considering that the ensuing analysis necessarily entails an
interpretation of treaties that this Commission considers germane to a
determination on the above question, it stands guided by the provisions of the
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) 8• Specifically, Articles 31-33
on the general rule of interpretation of treaties, which has acquired customary
international law status 9 Article 31(1) of the VCLT enjoins ,treaty bodies, to
interpret a treaty 11 in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be
given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in light of its object and
purpose 11 •
2.1
Contentious jurisdiction of the African Commission under the
African Charter
46. To begin, the Commission traces its original contentious jurisdiction from the
African Charter. I~ contrast to other human rights treaties, such as the
European Convention on Human Rights 10 and the American Convention on
Human Rights11 , the African Charter and indeed the Commission's Rules of
Procedure do not contain an explicit reference to the term 'jurisdiction'. That
notwithstanding~ Article , 45 of the African Charter, which outlines the
Commission's mandates, operates as the Charter's jurisdiction clause. Article
45(2) of the African Charter enjoins the Commission to 'ensure the protection
of human and peo"ples' rights under conditions laid down by the Charter'. From
a reading of the rest of the Charter, these conditions may be said to include inter
alia the consideration of 'Communications from States' and 'Other
Communications' otherwise known as individual Communications, as
outlined in Articles 47, 48 and 55 of the African Charter respectively. Article
45(3) of the African Charter also provides that the Commission shall '[i]nterpret
all the provisions of the present Charter at the request of a State party, an