The treaty creating the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights, which was adopted by all 54 countries in Africa in June 2014, is the first international legal instrument that combines in a single court three distinctive jurisdictions over criminal, human rights, and general matters. Bringing together leading authorities in international criminal law, human rights and transitional justice, this volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of what is known as the ‘Malabo Protocol’ while situating it within the wider fields of international law and international relations. The book, edited by Professors Jalloh (FIU), Clarke (UCLA) and Nmehielle (ADB), offers scholarly, empirical, critically engaged and practical analyses of some of the most challenging questions confronting international courts today. These include the definition of certain international crimes, cooperation and immunity and the question whether the regional African Court could compete with, or complement, the regional human rights mechanism or the world’s only permanent International Criminal Court based in The Hague and supported by 123 States.
Q. Why this book, and why now?
There are many reasons why this book and why now. Let me highlight two. First, the idea of creating an African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights was popular in certain government circles in Africa. But it was quite unpopular among international lawyers, especially those in The Hague. Many academics thought that the decision by African States to create their own regional court that will have jurisdiction to prosecute international and transnational crimes, was meant to undermine the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a result, many scholars reflexively caricatured the African Court as a kind of rebel regional court against the ICC, but, to my surprise, without first engaging its legal merits at all. In fact, once you asked why they were opposed to it, you quickly realized that many scholars knew little about the African Court. Let alone the many innovations embedded in its founding instrument.
Second, since African States will need at least ten years before their treaty enters into force and before the African Court would be actually created and operational, we felt that scholars should take advantage of the abundant time we have now to methodically address the glaring blind spots in the African Court instrument. This included delicate issues that the framers of the African Court statute glossed over. For example, the drafters of the Malabo Protocol in the African Union failed to address the type of relationship we should expect between the future African Court and the current global criminal court. Yet with the ICC in the Hague involved with mostly African situation countries referred by African countries themselves and prosecuting mostly African cases, it was quite important for the future success of both courts that they collaborate – rather than compete – with each other. This is not only beneficial for Africa and the international community and the ICC which has so far been endorsed by 123 countries including 33 from Africa, but also for the future of the global fight against impunity for serious crimes condemned by international law. Other regions of world, such as Latin America, are now considering having regional courts to prosecute crimes of particular interest to their regions. It is this significance of what we could learn, and its relevance for the international community, that led us to put together this team of top-notch scholars to study the Malabo Protocol. It is also probably why, somewhat unusually for law professors, we were able to attract over a million dollars in funding to carryout this multi-year study.
Q. Who should read this book?
Breaking new ground on the African Court, but also treating old concepts of international dispute settlement in a novel and relevant way, our book is largely written by leading legal academics for other lawyers, judges, practitioners, and students of law. But in another way, the justice issues we address are much broader and more universal. Come to think of it, they really are for anyone interested in the role that courts play in resolving disputes between States, holding States accountable for respecting the human rights of their citizens, or in prosecuting individuals at the regional and international levels for crimes that shock the conscience of humanity but that far too often go unpunished.
By the way, one thing I should mention is that, due to the generosity of the Africa Regional Office of the Open Society Foundation, which sponsored this research, our volume is also available as an Open Access book on Cambridge Core. Basically, this means you can download the entire book or any of the chapters as free PDFs. We are glad that this is the case so that the knowledge produced is equally available to any researchers with basic internet access anywhere in the world.
Q. What is the most important takeaway you hope your readers gain from this book?
Great question. After years of careful research, and three conferences convening leading scholars on three separate continents for some intense conversations, I would say our most important takeaway is surprisingly simple: that is, the African Court is unlikely to be a competitor or threat to the permanent International Criminal Court. Rather, if you look at the underlying legal framework of each distinct court, each tribunal can play a key role in the ongoing struggle to offer the numerous African victims of atrocity crimes some measure of justice for the pain and suffering they and their families have endured.
Q. How did you decide on the title and cover art?
The title we selected accurately reflects the subject of our book: The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights. The subtitle speaks to “Development and Challenges”, two elements that are central themes throughout the work and indeed to the future court.
Concerning the cover, we thought something that captures Africa and the notion of justice. The map of the African continent was easy. Justice was a bit harder. We couldn’t find anything that beats the classic scales of justice. Juxtaposing the symbol of the world’s second largest continent against the symbol of justice, and the symbol of justice against the map of the world’s second largest continent, and then both against a wider background scene that reminds me of the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania famously depicted in the Lion King movie just did it for me. I hope it does it for our readers too!
Charles C. Jalloh is Professor of Law at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, USA, a member of the United Nations International Law Commission, where he was elected by his peers as Chair of the Drafting Committee for the historic 70th (2018) session and as Rapporteur for the 71st (2019) session, and founding Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Legal Studies and the African Journal of International Criminal Justice. Professor Jalloh was selected for the FIU Top Scholar Award in 2015, the FIU Senate Faculty Award for Excellence in Research in 2018 and the Fulbright Lund University Distinguished Chair in Public International Law for the 2018-2019 academic year.
A prolific scholar, he has published widely on issues of international law, including articles in top journals such as American Journal of International Law, International Criminal Law Review, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Penn State Law Review, Michigan Journal of International Law, and Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. He has books with prestigious university presses and other leading publishers. These include as editor: The Sierra Leone Special Court and Its Legacy: The Impact for Africa and International Criminal Law (Cambridge, 2014 hardback, 2015 paperback); Shielding Humanity: Essays in International Law in Honour of Judge Abdul G. Koroma, (Brill, 2015, with Femi Elias); Promoting Accountability Under International Law for Gross Violations in Africa: Essays in Honor of Prosecutor Hassan Jallow (Brill, 2015, with Alhagi Marong); and four volumes of the first comprehensive Law Reports of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Brill, 2012, 2014, 2015, forthcoming 2020, with Simon Meisenberg). His recent works include The International Criminal Court in an Effective Global Justice System (Elgar, 2016, with Linda Carter and Mark Ellis); The International Criminal Court and Africa (Oxford University Press, 2017, with Ilias Bantekas) and The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges (Cambridge, 2019, with Kamari Clarke and Vincent Nmehielle). His monograph, The Legal Legacy of the Sierra Leone Tribunal, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press (2020).
Called to the Bar in 2004, he has advised states and international organizations on issues of domestic and international law and appeared in proceedings before international tribunals. His practice experience includes as counsel in the Department of Justice Canada, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, an associate legal officer in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda working on high profile cases involving the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a legal adviser in the Special Court for Sierra Leone where he was duty counsel and head of the public defender’s office in The Hague trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, and as a visiting professional, in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In 2015 and 2018, Professor Jalloh appeared as External Counsel representing the African Union before the Appeals Chamber of the ICC in The Hague in two separate proceedings involving two African heads of state. He has given numerous invited lectures including at Oxford, Yale and Penn law schools, the U.S. State Department, the UN General Assembly, the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Between 2012-2014, he co-chaired the International Criminal Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law. For several years, he was member of the Advisory Panel to the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Advisory Board of the War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association. He is currently a member and chair of the Panel of Experts assisting the Committee on the Election of the Prosecutor established by the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court, a member of the Advisory Board of eyewitness to Atrocities, an Independent Legal Expert for the Directorate of Legal Affairs of the African Union Commission and Founding Director of the African Court Research Initiative funded by Open Society.
His education includes a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Guelph, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Civil Law degrees from McGill University, and a Master’s in International Human Rights Law, with distinction, from Oxford University, where he was a Chevening Scholar. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) specializing in International Law from the University of Amsterdam.