invoke provisions of the law which are presumed
to have
undertaken
issue
been
violated.'° The
Committee in this matter also agrees with the Complainant that the Communication
is not solely based on information circulated by media; rather it is based on
information provided, inter alia, by the alleged victims primarily through personal
interviews of the talibes made by the complaining NGOs and information obtained
from reports made by credible organisations. In addition, the Committee has
investigation
and
confirmed
that the
considered in another international procedure.
at hand
has
not
been
19.In considering whether or not the Complainants have exhausted local remedies
available in the Respondent State, the Committee would like to reiterate its position
that is stated in Children of Nubian Descents Case."' In that communication, the
Committee held that Article 46 of the Charter mandates it to draw inspiration from
International Law on Human Rights. Basing this explicit legislative mandate, the
Committee made ‘reference to laws, and jurisprudence from other countries or treaty
bodies in Africa and elsewhere."
20.The Committee would also like to draw inspiration from the ACHPR in considering
the requirement to exhaust local remedy. In Sir Dawda Jawara v The Gambia"® the
Commission held that a remedy is considered “available” if the complainant can
pursue it without impediment"*. it is deemed “effective” if it offers a prospect of
success; and it is found “sufficient” if it is capable of redressing the complaint.’®
Therefore,
it is a well-established
jurisprudence
of the
Commission
that ‘only
domestic remedies that are available, effective, and adequate (sufficient) that need
to be exhausted’.'® As such, the Commission has recognized that the exhaustion of
prior domestic remedies implies and assumes the availability, effectiveness and
sufficiency of domestic adjudication procedures. If local remedies are unduly
*© See also FIDH, Organisation nationale de droits de I’Homme (ONDH) and Rencontre africaine pour la
défense des droits de I'Homme (RADDHO) v Senegal Communication No. 304/2005 ACHPR.
‘' The decision on communication 002/2009 IHRDA and OSJI (on behalf of children of Nubian descent in
Kenya) v Kenya, adopted by the ACERWC on 22 March 2011, during its 17th Ordinary Session held in
Addis Ababa. Ethiopia from 22-29 March 2011.
"2 Nubian case, para 25.
‘3 Dawda
Jawara
v. The
147/95 and 149/96 (2000).
Gambia,
African Commission
on Human
and
Peoples'
Rights,
Comm.
Nos.
a Similarly, the decision of the Commission in Anuak Justice Council v Ethiopia [op. cit, para. 51] requires
that ‘three major criteria could be deduced in determining the rule on the exhaustion of local remedies,
namely: that the remedy must be available, effective and sufficient. [Ceesay v The Gambia
Communication 86/93]. According to the Commission, a remedy is considered to be available ‘if the
petitioner can pursue it without impediments or if he can make use of it in the circumstances of his case.’
[Sir Dawda K. Jawara v The Gambia, op. cit, para. 31].
‘8 Sir Dawda K. Jawara v The Gambia, ibid, paras 31 and 32.
‘© Constitutional Rights Project [CRP] v Nigeria Communication No. 60/91. See too citations therein
pertaining to the jurisprudence of the African Commission in this regard and Dawda Jawara v The
Gambia Communication Nos. 147/95 and 149/96, para.32.
6