International Human Rights Law Documents

Note: Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. Adopted 27 June 2014. Not in force.

PREAMBLE

The Member States of the African Union parties to the Constitutive Act of the African Union;

RECALLING the objectives and principles enunciated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union, adopted on 11 July 2000 in Lome, Togo, in particular the commitment to settle their disputes through peaceful means;

FURTHER RECALLING the provisions of the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights and the Statute annexed to it adopted on 1 July 2008 in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt;

RECOGNIZING that the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights had merged the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Court of Justice of the African Union into a single Court;

BEARING IN MIND their commitment to promote peace, security and stability on the continent, and to protect human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant instruments;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING the efforts and contribution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights since its inception in 1987;

NOTING the steady growth of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the contribution it has made in protecting human and peoples’ rights on the African continent as well as the progress towards the establishment of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights;

FURTHER BEARING IN MIND the complementary relationship between the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well as its successor, the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights;

FURTHER RECALLING their commitment to the right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity as well as a serious threat to legitimate order to restore peace and stability to the Member State of the Union upon the recommendation of the Peace and Security Council;