The East African court of justice and human rights protection: challenges and opportunities
Loading...
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The study at hand examines the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) and the status of Human Rights protection in the EAC Partner States. The study postulates that, the EACJ is not particularly effective in protecting human rights in EAC Partner States. This hypothesis was based on two major premises. First, the EACJ is hampered by legal challenges in protecting and promoting human rights in the EAC Partner States. Second, lack of opportunities hinders the EACJ in protecting and promoting human rights in the EAC. In a nutshell, the study reveal that the most serious legal challenge undermining the EACJ is ambivalence in defining the Court’s mandate in human rights cases. Nonetheless, the EACJ continues to hear and determine cases which involve human rights violation. Apart from its contentious human rights jurisdiction, the EACJ also operates in an ad hoc fashion. Other identified challenges includes; poor public awareness, absence of an effective enforcement mechanism of court’s judgments, language barrier and differences in the legal system among the EAC Partner States. Finally, the study urges the EAC Partner States to adopt an additional Protocol to vest the EACJ with human rights jurisdiction. Further, the EAC Bill of Rights needs to be integrated into the EAC legal framework along with enhanced public awareness. Furthermore, the study call upon the EAC Partner States to put in place a feasible mechanism of enforcing the Court’s judgments, in addition to increasing the EACJ’s budget and engaging Judges on a permanent and pensionable basis.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF KQ 239.A353L82)
Keywords
East African Court of Justice, Human rights, Africa, East
Citation
Luambano, T. R. (2016) The East African court of justice and human rights protection: challenges and opportunities, Doctoral dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam