Changes at the Court: a new President, Vice-President and three new Judges

It’s been a busy few days at the African Court on Human and People’s Rights with the appointment of a new President and Vice-President and the swearing-in of three new Judges.

New President and Vice-President

Taking up the reigns as President is Judge Ramadhani from Tanzania who takes over from Judge Akuffo. The new Vice-President is Judge Thompson from Nigeria who replaces Judge Ngoepe.

Both President Ramadhani’s and Vice-President Thompson’s profiles can be seen here, although the Judges’ profiles page has yet to be updated to reflect their new appointments. The story on the Court’s website can be seen here.

Three new Judges

On 8 September 2014, three new Judges were also sworn in for six-year terms. The judges are Hon. Justice Rafaa Ben Achour (Tunisia),  Hon. Lady Justice  Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda) and Hon. Justice Angelo Vasco Matusse (Mozambique).

All three were appointed by the Executive Council of the African Union at its 23rd Ordinary Session held from 26 to 27 June, 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (the same session which gave rise to issues over the creation of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights including impunity for leaders)

The new Judges will replace the previous President and Vice President, who have served the statutory two terms required by the Protocol establishing the Court and are thus not eligible for re-appointment, as well as Justice Kimelabalou Aba (Togo), who was not re-elected.

Judge Achour’s and Bossa’s Wikipedia entries (in French) are here and here.

Judge Bossa is also a former Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and her ICTR profile can be seen here.

Cursory googling hasn’t turned up much information on Judge Matusse- please feel free to contact me at contact@acthprmonitor.org or via twitter at @acthpr_monitor if you have any links I can add to this post.

See the Court’s website for more information here and here.