Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Neutering the SADC Tribunal by Blocking Individuals’ Access to the Tribunal

Neutering the SADC Tribunal by Blocking Individuals’ Access to the Tribunal The SADC Tribunal was originally suspended by the SADC Heads of State and Government in August 2010. On 18 August 2012 at their Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, the SADC leaders took a decision to continue with the suspension of the SADC tribunal while simultaneously re-negotiating a new Protocol on the SADC Tribunal. Crucially for this article, the Summit also took a decision to limit the jurisdiction of the SADC Tribunal to the determination of inter-state disputes and the interpretation of the SADC Treaty and its protocols and divested it of the jurisdiction to entertain claims lodged by private persons. This decision effectively means that the Tribunal will no longer enjoy the power to entertain human rights claims, since they are invariably brought to court by natural persons. This article argues that the Summit’s decision to close to the SADC Tribunal to individuals is arbitrary, politically motivated and will undermine the regional human rights protection system and consequently undermine SADC’s ultimate objectives, namely regional integration and economic growth. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Human Rights Law Review Brill

Neutering the SADC Tribunal by Blocking Individuals’ Access to the Tribunal

International Human Rights Law Review , Volume 2 (2): 294 – Jan 1, 2013

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/neutering-the-sadc-tribunal-by-blocking-individuals-access-to-the-JCTQH1yd0i

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Subject
Articles
ISSN
2213-1027
eISSN
2213-1035
DOI
10.1163/22131035-00202008
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The SADC Tribunal was originally suspended by the SADC Heads of State and Government in August 2010. On 18 August 2012 at their Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, the SADC leaders took a decision to continue with the suspension of the SADC tribunal while simultaneously re-negotiating a new Protocol on the SADC Tribunal. Crucially for this article, the Summit also took a decision to limit the jurisdiction of the SADC Tribunal to the determination of inter-state disputes and the interpretation of the SADC Treaty and its protocols and divested it of the jurisdiction to entertain claims lodged by private persons. This decision effectively means that the Tribunal will no longer enjoy the power to entertain human rights claims, since they are invariably brought to court by natural persons. This article argues that the Summit’s decision to close to the SADC Tribunal to individuals is arbitrary, politically motivated and will undermine the regional human rights protection system and consequently undermine SADC’s ultimate objectives, namely regional integration and economic growth.

Journal

International Human Rights Law ReviewBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2013

Keywords: human rights tribunals; Southern African Development Community (SADC); SADC Tribunal; rule of law; Zimbabwe

There are no references for this article.