The Admissibility of Subregional Courts’ Decisions before the African Commission. .. 257 African Charter, the establishing Protocol places the African Court in a similar position as the African Commission regarding admissibility of pending or decided cases and that position was confirmed in Rule 40(7) of the Rules of the African Court.102 The third category of human rights bodies does not admit cases that are pending before or have already been decided by other tribunals. For example, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (OP-CEDAW) precludes the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women from examining a communication in which ‘the same matter has already been examined by the Committee or has been or is being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement.’103 Thus, OP-CEDAW and other similar human rights instruments prohibit pendente lite and establish the principle of non bis in idem.104 3. Reasons for the Inadmissibility of Cases Decided by Subregional Courts 3.1. Threat of Massive Backlog and Wise Use of Resources Human rights treaty bodies consider communications or cases that comply with admissibility requirements. The requirements serve as screening mechanisms between national and international institutions or among international institutions.105 There is an apprehension that the absence of such screening 102 African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Rules of Court, adopted and entered into force on 2 June 2010, rule 40(7). 103 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by UN General Assembly in resolution A/54/4 on 6 October 1999 at New York and entered into force on 22 December 2000. 104 Other examples include Art 3(2)(c) of Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted on 10 December 2008 by the General Assembly resolution A/RES/63/117; Art 30(2)(e) International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by General Assembly resolution 61/177 of 20 December 2006; Art 2(c) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted by General Assembly resolution 61/106 of 13 December 2006; Art 22(5)(a) of Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the UN General Assembly in resolution 39/46 of 10 December 1984 at New York, entered into force on 26 June 1987; Art 77(3)(a) of International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990, entered into force on 1 July 2003. 105 some admissibility requirements (eg exhaustion of local remedies) serve as filtering mechanisms between national and international mechanisms. See Viljoen (2008),