Dar es Salaam, (Tanzania), Nov. 2, GNA – The African Court Media Network has been tasked to upscale reportage on human rights issues to provide a platform for person whose rights are abused to seek redress at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The African Court Media Network, which serves as communication advocacy for Africans to understand the role of the African Court and the need to ensure that respective countries ratify the Protocol.
The African Court Media Network was also tasked at the end of the three-day African Court Media Training for Senior Editors and Journalists at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to adopt local level project to promote the African Court, which was established by pursuant to Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The African Court Protocol was adopted by Member States of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in June 1998. The Protocol came into force on 25 January 2004.
African Court Media Network practitioners in the 31 States, which have ratified the Protocol were tasked to liaise with specific bodies, civil society organizations, legal practitioners, Parliamentarians, religious and traditional leaders.
They are also to liaise with Bar Associations to exert pressure on their governments to commit to African Union treatises they have signed and ratified especially relating to the African Court.
The 25 Countries who have ratified the protocol but refused to sign the declaration are: Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon.
Others are Kenya, Libya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.
The African Court Media Network commended the African Continental Court for standing tall in spite of the daunting challenges as it celebrates its 15th anniversary.
The African Court Media Network also commended the “Bold Six Countries” who have deposited the declaration recognizing the competence of the African Court to receive cases directly from NGOs and individuals.
The “Six Bold States” are: Ghana, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Mali, Malawi and Tunisia.
Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud, President of the African Court in closing the fifth edition of the African Court’s Media Training, reiterated emphatically that the role of media professionals was even more important in carrying out the Court’s mission at this stage, when it faces a crisis of cooperation with its main stakeholders, the States.
She noted that the media had the capacity to play an important role in the process by which States and the public in general regain confidence in the African Court.
Lady Justice Aboud noted that the various exchanges have provided media professionals with the tools they will need to accomplish such a mission; “It is therefore my hope that, as advocates for the cause of human rights justice in Africa, you will henceforth join the African Court Media Network to spread the word about human rights sensitive media reporting.
“I therefore invite you, as media professionals, to remain abreast of the experience and knowledge shared today as you report on the most imminent events of the African Court”.
The African Court President noted that from a general perspective, that the African Court Media Network were also required to play an important role in ensuring a wide and purposive dissemination of the Court’s strategic plan, to help the public and relevant stakeholders have a clear role of the Court’s vision in the forthcoming years.
GNA