La ricerca di regole di coordinamento tra la Corte africana dei diritti dell’uomo e dei popoli e le corti e i tribunali istituiti nell’ambito delle comunità africane subregionali di integrazione economica

Abstract

Even before the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the judicial bodies of the African Regional Economic Communities progressively and autonomously began to extend their jurisdiction to human rights-related disputes. The three most prominent examples are offered by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, the Tribunal of the Southern African Development Community, and the Court of Justice of the East African Community. As a result, there is today a proliferation in Africa of international courts and tribunals dealing with human rights-related disputes. This article will contribute to outline the main solutions proposed by scholars regarding the potential rules of coordination between the African Court and the courts and tribunals of the African Regional Economic Communities, having noted the absence of treaty provisions aimed at regulating their relations and listed the problems that would seemingly stem from this lack. The real need for such rules of coordination will be scrutinised. In particular, it will be submitted that doubts about this need arise when the outcomes of the proliferation of international courts and tribunals in the field of human rights are properly assessed.

Keywords: African Human Rights System; African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights; African Sub-Regional Courts and Tribunals; Proliferation of International Courts and Tribunals; Rules of Coordination between International Courts and Tribunals.