Current Challenges Facing the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights

Five years after the coming into force of the Protocol on the Establishment of an African court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on 15 December 2009, the court issued its first judgment.1 This case highlighted the limits of the court’s jurisdiction, since the case brought by a Chad national against Senegal was rejected as inadmissible. To date, Senegal, like many other African states, has not yet issued a declaration facilitating actions by individuals. As such, the court was not able to rule on the contents of the legal issues involved.