© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15723747-00902003
International Organizations Law Review 9 (2012) 383–449 brill.com/iolr
INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
LAW REVIEW
he African Court of Justice and Human Rights:
A Judicial Curate’s Egg
Gino J Naldi
a
& Konstantinos D. Magliveras
b
a) Researcher in International Law, Great Britain
gnaldi@hotmail.com
b) Associate Professor, Department of Mediterranean Studies
University of the Aegean, Greece
kmagliveras@rhodes.aegean.gr
Abstract
he present article analyzes the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, the proposed “main
judicial organ of the African Union”. he African Court of Justice and Human Rights is meant
to replace the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights and would therefore constitute a
unique international judicial body combining the jurisdiction of the judicial organ of an
intergovernmental organization with the jurisdiction of a regional human rights court. It shares
features of the International Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
In a highly contentious move detrimental to the role of the International Criminal Court, it is
currently proposed to extend its jurisdiction over international crimes, the deinition of which
goes much further than that currently accepted by the international community, raising the
prospect of conlicting obligations. he Court’s governing instruments are too ambitious and
contain some signiicant laws and the case for doing away with the now operational African
Court of Human Rights and Peoples’ Rights seems unconvincing. Even though the Court has
not yet been established, its structure and mandate do pose many challenging questions that
deserve to be thoroughly investigated by drawing comparisons with the existing similar judicial
organs in other international organizations.
Keywords
African Union; judicial organs of intergovernmental organizations; African Court of Justice and
Human Rights; international criminal law
* After 30 years in academia Dr Gino Naldi is currently an independent researcher in
Public International Law and International Human Rights Law. He has developed a spe-
cialism in these ields relating to Africa and to the Organization of African Unity/African