Recently, the African Court announced the conclusion of a visit from the ECOWAS Court. At the end of the four day visit the institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding. I’ve attached the announcement of the MOU below.
Here’s three quick thoughts:
A First? Its good to see the African human rights system coming together. Just the very fact both institutions sat down to talk for a few days is notable. I often hear comments that the African human rights system is complicated and confusing. There is some truth in this, but when the institutions themselves are talking its a good start to demystifying the African human rights systems and its venues.
Overlapping… but not too much The announcement mentions the overlapping jurisdictions of the ECOWAS Court and the African Court. This is certainly correct, but I wonder if the two court’s slightly different roles allows for greater coordination? The ECOWAS Court is a regional institution and is therefore competing for a slightly different place at the table to that of the African Court that aspires to be a continent-wide court. Could it be that the continental and regional can exist more easily than two institutions both looking to achieve continent-wide mandates?
Talking can only be positive It is easy to dismiss these kind of announcements as nothing more than glad-handing. Who knows if this initiative will really gain any traction? But by opening up communication channels things can happen. It might only be one conversation or a shared experience, but something seemingly small can lead to a change in the way an institution approaches an issue or deals with a problem. Lets hope this MOU leads to many such exchanges.
Here’s the announcement in full