The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) has organised a refresher exchange for its legal officials.
The exchange also involved officers from the Language Unit of the Court as a strategic way of getting them to understand the judgment style of the Court.
According to a statement from the court in Arusha, Tanzania, the move was part of its continued commitment to enhance quality in administration of justice through improved judgment drafting and legal writing.
The Registrar of the Court, Dr Robert Eno, confirmed that the capacity building exchange was held in pursuit of the Court Legal Division’s goal to review the quality processes implemented by the Court towards the achievement of its judicial mandate to promote and protect the human and peoples’ rights on the continent.
He then challenged the participants to continually devise strategies that give the Court a unique identity to maintain its integrity regardless of the nature of cases, while taking full advantage of the legal expertise available at the Court.
Dr Eno stated further: “Within the African Union family, we have the best legal resources, every legal officer in their own space is good, but there is always room for improvement, that’s why this training is a desire to acquire more,” he said.
“The exchange also brought to light the need to provide legal perspectives from an African eye, to ensure both the handling and interpretation of cases at all levels are done within the context of social, economic, political and cultural realities of the African continent.
“Member states of the African Union want to see our decisions and judgments consider the African reality. We can borrow a leaf from the West to embrace conversations that may be hard for the continent but necessary for providing a true representation of issues. The national context needs to be taken into consideration, we should not degrade the universality of rights and not forget the context of the country.”
While giving a closing remarks at the training, the Head of Legal Division of the Court, Dr. Sègnonna Horace Adjolohoun, recalled the background to the refresher exchange and stressed its relevance in a year devoted to undertaken a quality review of the judicial work of the Court.
He further committed the Legal Division to implementing the outcome of the exchange.
The Court has since its establishment received more and delivered over 200 decisions including judgments, rulings and also advisory opinions.
