•
•
5
Communication 71/92 Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l’Homme/Zambia ;
and
6
Communication 74/92 Commission nationale des droits de l’Homme et des libertés/Chad .
31. The African Commission feels that none of these communications are identical with the
communication brought by the Complainant who, moreover did not attempt to exhaust local remedies
prior to bringing the matter before the African Commission in 2002.
32. Considering that he left DRC in June 1997, there is no indication that he attempted to exhaust
local remedies whilst in Togo nor did his wife (who remained in DRC until November 2002) attempt to
take any action to exhaust local remedies.
33. Furthermore, the Complainant does not provide evidence showing the moral and material
constraints alleged to have prevented him from exhausting local remedies available under the laws of
DRC.
Holding
For these reasons, and in accordance with Article 56(5) of the African Charter, the African
Commission,
Declares this communication inadmissible for non-exhaustion of local remedies.
Footnotes
1. Communication 39/90 Annette Pagnoule on behalf of Abdoulaye Mazou/Cameroon . The Complainant had
taken numerous legal actions both non-contentious and contentious without any success. The [African]
Commission felt then that local remedies had been exhausted.
2. Communication 103/93 Alhassane Aboubacar/Ghana : the Complainant was sentenced and sent to prison.
Following his escape from prison, he took refuge abroad and seized the African Commission. The African
Commission felt that it was not logical to ask him to return and exhaust local remedies in Ghana.
3. Communication 147/95 and 149/96 Dawda Jawara/The Gambia . The Complainant was a Head of State who
had been toppled and sentenced in absentia. The African Commission felt that local remedies were not available
and that in such conditions, it was not logical to ask him to return to The Gambia to exhaust local remedies.
4. Communications (consolidated) 25/89, 47/90, 56/91, 100/93 Free Legal Assistance Group, Lawyers’
Committee for Human Rights, Union internationale des droits de l’Homme, Les témoins de Jéhovah/Zaire .
Considering that the condition of exhaustion of local remedies was not applicable to the letter when it is neither
practical nor desirable that the Complainant seizes the courts for each violation, the African Commission declared
the consolidated communications admissible due to the nature of the violations which were serious and massive
violations of human rights.
5. Communication 71/92 Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l’Homme/Zambia . The [African]
Commission felt that the condition of exhaustion of local remedies does not mean that Complainants must
exhaust local remedies when, in practical terms, these are neither available nor practical.
6. Communication 74/92 Commission nationale des droits de l’Homme et des libertés/Chad. The African
Commission felt that it could not be asked of the Complainant to exhaust local remedies when he would not be in
a position to seize the national courts.