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| NGO faults AU human rights judges' nomination procedure
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Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) -
A South Africa-based NGO, Coalition
for an Effective African Court on Human and People's Rights,
has criticised the process for the nomination of judges to
the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.
The protocol establishing the Court came into force on 25
January 2004.
While only 21 of the 53 African Union (AU) countries have ratified
the protocol, the AU is scheduled to elect 11 judges from a pool
of 21 candidates nominated by the Member States, at the ongoing
summit in Khartoum.
In a statement Saturday on the sidelines of the eighth ordinary
session of AU Council of Foreign Ministers in the Sudanese capital,
the Coalition said "the process of nominating the judges was not
open and transparent as required by rules of procedure, and only a
few countries followed the due process of nomination."
"Ours is to ensure that the nominees meet the criteria," Ibrahima
Kane, a legal officer with Interights, a member of the Coalition,
told PANA in Khartoum.
The Coalition claimed that out of the 21 candidates, only eight had
verifiable experience in the field of human rights.
It said six had common law experience (Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa,
Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana), nine - civil law experience (Algeria, Burkina
Faso, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Rwanda, Comoros, Niger),
and two - experience in Islamic law (Comoros, Libya).
"It should be noted that there is a need for knowledge of the
peculiarities of the legal systems in Lusophone countries in the
Court," the Coalition noted in its statement.
Kane said the nomination of the judges should have been left with
the AU Commission, and not the Member States, to ensure an open and
transparent process, and to create public trust in the integrity of
the nomination process.
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| Khartoum - 21/01/2006 |
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