Zimbabwe’s president said that his country strongly cherishes and values Pan Africanism and the organs that exemplify the ideal. PHOTO|FILE.
Zimbabwe is set to ratify the protocol on establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa vowed that his country is set to ratify the protocol after the recent visit by the court’s president Sylvain Oré in Harare.
“We will act…we do not want to be left behind we will ratify the protocol,” said president Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe’s president said that his country strongly cherishes and values Pan Africanism and the organs that exemplify the ideal.
Zimbabwe had signed the Protocol in 1998 but is yet to ratify it and make the Declaration under Article 34(6) to allow its citizens to access the Court directly.
The African Court delegation was in Zimbabwe on 14-15 August 2019 on a sensitisation visit at the invitation of the government, where they met key stakeholders, including the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Acting Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Bar Association.
‘’These visits have helped to raise awareness of the Court’s existence for the Court to discharge its mandate effectively and further strengthen the African continent’s human rights system ,’’ said the court’s president Mr Oré.
Since the adoption of the Protocol in June 1998, 30 out of 55 African Union Member States have ratified it, but only nine State Parties to the Protocol have made the Declaration under Article 34(6). These are Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, The Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Malawi, Tanzania, and Tunisia.
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was established by virtue of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to complement the protective mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, with a view to enhancing the protection of human rights on the continent.