Respondent State is a State Party to the African Charter, therefore the
Communication falls within the rationae personae jurisdiction of the Commission.
Since the Communication is compatible with the Constitutive Act and the African
Charter and also indicates a prima facie violation of the African Charter, the
Commission finds that the Communication satisfies the requirements of Article
56(2).8
36. Concerning Article 56(3) of the African Charter, the Commission notes the
Complainant’s submission that the Communication was not written in
disparaging language. Pursuant to Article 56(3) of the African Charter,
Communications shall be considered if they ‘are not written in disparaging or
insulting language directed at the State concerned and its institutions or to the
Organisation of African Unity’. In this regard, the Commission does not observe
any such use of insulting or disparaging language. The Commission therefore
finds that the requirements of Article 53(3) are satisfied.
37. With regard to Article 56(4) of the African Charter, the Commission notes that the
Communication is based on information extracted from existing and operational
laws of the Respondent State. Article 56(4) of the African Charter requires that
Communications ‘are not based exclusively on news disseminated though the
mass media’. The Commission notes that the present Communication is not based
exclusively on news disseminated through mass media and finds that Article 56(4)
is satisfied by the Communication.
38. The Commission notes that the Communication satisfies Article 56(5) of the
African Charter because one of the exceptions to the requirement to exhaust
domestic remedies applies to the present Communication. The Complainant
invokes the exception on the grounds that effective domestic remedies are not
available because the violation is premised on a constitutional lacuna and there is
no prospect of success in challenging constitutional provisions within the
Respondent State’s legal system. It is on these grounds that the Complainant
argues that the Communication satisfies Article 56(5) of the African Charter.
39. The Commission recalls that Article 56(5) requires Communications to be ‘sent
after exhausting domestic remedies, if any, unless it is obvious that this procedure
is unduly prolonged’. As the Commission has previously observed, this
requirement is based on the principle that “the Respondent State must first have
an opportunity to redress by its own means within the framework of its own
domestic legal system, the wrong alleged to have been done to the individual.”9
Communication 333/06 - Southern Africa Human Rights NGO Network & Others v Tanzania (2010)
(ACHPR), para 51
9
Communication 71/92 - Rencontre Africaine pour la Defence des Droits de l'Homme v. Zambia (1997) ACHPR
8
7