The African Court of Justice and Human Rights: An Opportunity to strengthen Human Rights Protection

Taking in to consideration the countless human rights violations and impunity inAfrica, there is not a shred of doubt about the dire need for effective human rights protection mechanisms at continental level. This concern has mainly increased due to the Africa Commission’s poor track record of enforcement of human rights norms in the region. Hence, it is in the effort to cure the ills suffered by this system that an endeavor to build a regional human rights judicial organ has been embarked on. The process of establishment of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACtJHR) is also the extension of this effort which partially became successful with the transitional operation of theAfrican Courton Human and Peoples’ Rights. The primary purpose of this study is, thus, to show how the ACtJHR would be relevant in promoting and protecting human rights in the continent. An attempt is also made to investigate whether the new Court will be a solution to fill the gaps left out by the African Commission in the regional human rights enforcement mechanism. In doing so, the study has made a thorough analysis of the prospects and challenges of the ACtJHR from different vantage points. It has also addressed the possible interaction between the two main regional human rights actors, i.e., the ACtJHR and the African Commission. The study has also touched up on the link between the sub-regional judicial institutions and theAfrican Courton human rights matters.