Last week, during a break from the Roundtable on Regional Human Rights System, GNJI blogger Alyson Zureick sat down with Hon. Justice Fatsah Ouguergouz, the Algerian justice on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to discuss issues facing the Court as it finalizes its rules of procedure and prepares to accept cases.

Q:  Will the African Court accept amicus briefs?  If so, will the Court allow open submission of briefs or will it only allow briefs it solicits?

A:  The Court has not yet decided whether to allow amicus briefs.  From my perspective, amicus briefs have made important contributions in other legal systems.  On the second question, if amicus briefs are allowed, the Court will most likely solicit them, though this matter has not been finalized either.

Q:  How do you envision the Court will address the issue of reparations for victims, particularly in the more resource-poor African countries?

A:  The finding for compensation would first rely on the application to ask for reparation or compensation, and then the Court would decide on the complaint.  The state in the case would then be required to comply with the Court’s finding.

Enforcing financial compensation will be difficult in the African system.  First the claim has to be submitted, the Court has to rule and then the decision has to be enforced.  Even the resource-rich states in Africa are not accustomed to paying compensation to victims so that sort of culture needs to be developed.  It will be very important for the credibility of the Court to ensure that the state complies with its decisions such as releasing a person deemed wrongly imprisoned. (more…)