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Hossou v. Benin (Judgment on Jurisdiction) (Afr. Ct. H.P.R.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2022

Scott Woodruff Lyons
Scott Woodruff Lyons*
Affiliation:
Supervisory Senior Lecturer and Principal for the Defense Security Cooperation University's Institute for Security Governance, based at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, United States. The views in this article are solely those of the author in his personal capacity and do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Defense, of any other agency, or of the U.S. Government.
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Extract

On March 24, 2020, Benin notified the African Union Commission that it was withdrawing from the optional aspect of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (Court) that entitled non-governmental organizations and individuals to bring cases directly to the Court. Benin withdrew due to perceived interference by the Court in a domestic commercial transaction and numerous decisions against Benin involving political opposition, with the state noting “serious incongruities.” Benin also indicated its intention to attempt to reform the Court at the next African Union Summit.

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 2023 , pp. 91 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law

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References

ENDNOTES

1 See African Court of Human Rights, Declarations, https://www.african-court.org/wpafc/declarations; see also Hossou v. Benin (Ruling, Provisional Measures), App. No. 016/2020, 1 Afr. Ct. L. Rep. __ (Sept. 25, 2020) ¶ 2, https://www.african-court.org/cpmt/storage/app/uploads/public/61a/f14/11d/61af1411d6766952110768.pdf.

2 See Segnonna Horace Adjolohoun, A crisis of design and judicial practice? Curbing state disengagement from the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, 20 Afr. H.R.J. 1, 12–16 (2020) (discussing the justification offered by each country that withdrew, including Benin); see also Retrait du Bénin de la CADHP – Déclaration du ministre de la Justice et de la Législation, https://www.gouv.bj/actualite/635/retrait-benin-cadhp-declaration-ministre-justice-legislation/ (in French).

3 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, June 10, 1998, Org. Afr. Unity [OAU] (entered into force on June 25, 2004) [hereinafter the Protocol].

4 Protocol, art. 5(3) and 34(6) (emphases added).

5 Hossou & Adelakoun v. Benin, (Judgment) App. No. 016/2020, 1 Afr. Ct. L. Rep. __ (Dec. 2, 2021) ¶ 1.

6 Umuhoza v. Rwanda (Jurisdiction), App. No. 003/2014, 1 Afr. Ct. L. Rep. 540 (June 3, 2016)

7 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, May 23, 1969, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331 (entered into force Jan. 27, 1980).

8 Hossou, supra note 6, ¶¶ 27–33, citing Umuhoza paras 54–59.

9 Hossou para 32.

10 Umuhoza, supra note 7, ¶¶ 65–68.

11 Hossou, supra note 6, ¶ 5.

12 Id. ¶ 34

13 See Hossou & Adelakoun v. Benin, (Opinion Dissidente) App. No. 016/2020, 1 Afr. Ct. L. Rep. __ (Dec. 2, 2021) ¶ 28 (translated from French); see also African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, art. 7, Jun. 27, 1981, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982).

14 See Opinion Dissidente, supra note 13, ¶ 29; see also Protocol, supra note 4, art. 3.

15 See, e.g., Scott Lyons, The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, ASIL Insights (Sept. 19, 2006), https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/10/issue/24/african-court-human-and-peoples-rights.

16 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights) art. 34., Nov. 4, 1950, E.T.S. No. 005 (entered into force Sept. 3, 1953).

17 See Status List, https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36393-sl-PROTOCOL_TO_THE_AFRICAN_CHARTER_ON_HUMAN_AND_PEOPLESRIGHTS_ON_THE_ESTABLISHMENT_OF_AN_AFRICAN_COURT_ON_HUMAN_AND_PEOPLES_RIGHTS.pdf. There are fifty-four states in Africa. As of September 1, 2022, of the thirty-three African states that have ratified and joined the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, only twelve submitted declarations opting into the additional jurisdiction under Article 34(6), and four (Rwanda, Tanzania, Benin, and Cote d'Ivoire) have subsequently withdrawn their declarations.

18 Adelakoun v. Benin (Ruling, Provisional Measures), App. No. 012/2021, 1 Afr. Ct. L. Rep. __ (Mar. 24, 2022).