Establishment of an Effective African Human Rights Court

The Protocol Establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights came into effect on 15 January 2004. More recently, at the AU Assembly in July 2004 a decision was taken to merge the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights with the Court of Justice of the African Union. What are the implications of this merger? Africa needs an effective human rights court to ensure respect for human rights and an eventual end to human rights violations. The Conference would have to consider procedural, logistical and resource issues, which would ensure that the African Court of Human Rights is an effective one.