African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) delegation of Judges and Registry Officers are in The Hague for a peer-to-peer bench-marking visit to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enhance exchanges and deepen cooperation.
The delegation led by Lady Justice Imani D. Aboud, President of the African Court forms part of efforts to increase engagement in judicial dialogue with international institutions and sharing similar or cross-cutting mandates.
The African Court’s President and her delegation met ICC’s Vice-President, Judge Ibanez Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, and Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa – formerly a Judge of the African Court, a statement made available to the Ghana News Agency in Tema indicated.
The delegation also met senior officers of the Office of the Prosecutor and Registry of the world criminal tribunal.
The discussion revolved around issues concerning international justice, and particularly questions that arise in the intersection between international criminal justice, and international human rights adjudication such as fair trial rights, use of technology in the administration of justice, as well as reparations to victims.
The two teams also engaged in legal aid, and knowledge management systems which have become key components of an effective administration of justice in the international realm.
Lady Justice Aboud stated that the visit was to strengthen recommendations from previous engagements to enhance legal knowledge and improve institutional practices.
In her welcome statement, ICC’s Vice-President Ibáñez Carranza re-stated the critical understanding of complementarity between international criminal and regional human rights systems as both work within the same interconnected global justice network.
She stressed the importance of working through synergy to achieve the common cause of ending impunity for crimes committed against humans.
As the only operational judicial organ of the African Union, the African Court has adopted judicial dialogue as one of the key pillars of its current strategic plan to achieve its mandate towards a more effective protection and enforcement of the individual and group rights guaranteed in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
One legal anchorage of the African Court’s engagement with the ICC is Article 21 of the Rome Statute, which requires all stakeholders of international criminal justice to work consistently with internationally recognized human rights standards.
In concluding their exchanges, the two institutions committed to enhancing the existing cooperation through positive complementarity; as well as continued operational and judicial engagement.
