The protection of human rights and popular participation on the fi rst sight seem to contradict Karin Deichmann the often-existing image of the African continent. However, with the foundation of the African Union in 2000, both aspects gain greater importance on regional level. Besides that, many subregional courts within the sphere of sub-Sahara Africa partially started to develop human rights-related jurisdiction. In addition to that, most regional economic communities nowadays Regional Integration, Human Rights and provide for their own parliamentary structures. The study aims to examine the several Democratic Participation in Africa institutional structures and their competences on both, regional and subregional level. Besides that, it provides for a profound analysis of the jurisdiction of the respective courts as well as the communications of the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights. Lastly, the study focuses on the correlation between the extension of the institutions’ competences and the political will of the involved governments. Karin Deichmann Regional Integration, Human Rights and Democratic Participation in Africa ISBN: 978-3-86395-468-0 Universitätsdrucke Göttingen Universitätsdrucke Göttingen Karin Deichmann Regional Integration, Human Rights and Democratic Participation in Africa This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. erschienen in der Reihe der Universitätsdrucke im Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2020 Karin Deichmann Regional Integration, Human Rights and Democratic Participation in Africa Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2020 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at <http://dnb.dnb.de>. Dissertation, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Contact Karin Deichmann E-Mail: [email protected] This work is protected by German Intellectual Property Right Law. It is also available as an Open Access version through the publisher’s homepage and the Göttingen University Catalogue (GUK) at the Göttingen State and University Library (https://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de). The conditions of the license terms of the online version apply. Typesetting and layout: Sascha Bühler Cover image: Arthimedes/Shutterstock.com © 2020 Universitätsverlag Göttingen https://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de ISBN: 978-3-86395-468-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2020-1339 Vorwort Diese Arbeit wurde im Juli 2020 als Dissertation an der Juristischen Fakultät der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen angenommen. Rechtsprechung und Literatur wurden bis September 2018 berücksichtigt. Mein besonderer Dank gilt meinem Doktorvater Herrn Prof. Dr. Peter-Tobias Stoll für seine vielseitigen Hilfestellungen bei der Themenfindung. Ferner haben die re- gelmäßigen Gespräche, Hinweise und intensiven Diskussionen während des Entste- hungsprozesses der Arbeit wesentlich zu deren erfolgreichen Abschluss beigetragen. Ich danke zudem Prof. Dr. José Martinez für die zügige Anfertigung des Zweitvotums. Meinen Eltern Artur und Andrea Deichmann sowie meinen Geschwistern Maximi- lian und Constantin Deichmann danke ich für die uneingeschränkte Unterstützung während des Studiums, des Promotionsvorhabens und des Referendariates. Schließlich danke ich meinen Freunden sowie dem Rest der Familie, die mir während der Umsetzung des Promotionsvorhabens stets auf verschiedenste Weise zur Seite standen. Berlin, im Oktober 2020 Table of content Vorwort ...........................................................................................................V List of abbreviations ......................................................................................... XI Table of cases ..................................................................................................XIV Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Developments towards regional integration in Africa .................... 3 1.1 The establishment of the United Nations – a milestone for the international recognition of human rights ..................................... 3 1.2 The United Nations and regional integration ............................................ 6 1.3 The concept of Pan-Africanism as an example of regionalism .................... 7 Chapter 2: Integration at regional level – the African Union (AU) .................. 9 2.1 Historical background: from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU) .......................................................... 10 2.2 Purposes and achievements of the African Union (AU) – winds of change? ............................................................................................... 15 2.3 Organs of the African Union (AU) ......................................................... 16 2.4 Human Rights wing of the African Union (AU) ..................................... 20 2.4.1 Human Rights instruments of the African Union (AU) ................ 20 2.5 Human rights institutions and procedures .............................................. 36 2.5.1 The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights .............. 36 2.5.2 Conclusion on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ........................................................................ 52 2.5.3 The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ........................ 54 2.5.4 Conclusion African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights............. 72 2.5.5 The Merger between the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court of Justice ......................................... 74 2.5.6 Conclusion regarding the merge of the African Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ................... 79 2.5.7 The Establishment of the International Criminal Chamber within the African Union ............................................................... 80 2.5.8 Conclusion on the establishment of the Criminal Chamber within the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights ............ 94 2.5.9 The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) – capable to guarantee human rights? ................................................................................ 96 VIII Table of content 2.5.10 Conclusion on the Pan African Parliament................................. 100 2.6 Conclusion on the Human Rights wing of the African Union (AU) ..... 102 2.7 The economic wing of the African Union (AU) .................................... 104 2.7.1 New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) .................. 104 2.7.2 The African Economic Community (AEC) .................................. 107 2.8 Conclusion on the Economic wing of the African Union (AU) ............. 110 2.9 Final conclusion to the African Union (AU) ......................................... 111 Chapter 3: The Protection of human rights on subregional level – an introduction ......................................................................... 113 Chapter 4: The Economic Community of West Africa ( ECOWAS) .............. 117 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 117 4.2 Historical background on the establishment of Economic Community of West Africa ( ECOWAS) ............................................... 118 4.2.1 First steps until the establishment of the Economic Community of West Africa ( ECOWAS) ...................................... 118 4.2.2 The final negotiations towards the adoption of the ECOWAS Treaty .......................................................................................... 119 4.3 Purposes and Objectives of the Treaty of the Economic Community of West Africa ....................................................................................... 121 4.4 Organs of the Economic Community of West Africa ( ECOWAS) ........ 124 4.5 The Court of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECCJ) ......... 125 4.5.1 The composition of the Court of the Economic Community of West Africa ( ECOWAS) .......................................................... 126 4.5.2 Limited jurisdiction of the Court of the Economic Community of West Africa ( ECOWAS) .......................................................... 126 4.5.3 Extension of the jurisdiction of the Court of the Economic Community of West Africa ......................................................... 129 4.6 Enforcement of rulings issued by the ECOWAS Court ......................... 137 4.6.1 ECOWAS Court case law relating to the enforcement ................ 139 4.6.2 Conclusion on the enforcement of rulings ................................... 141 4.6.3 Failed backlash against the ECOWAS Court ............................... 142 4.7 Conclusion on the ECOWAS Court of Justice ...................................... 143 4.8 The Parliament of the Economic Community of West Africa ................ 145 4.8.1 The Composition of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States – the grounds for an independent institution .............................................................. 145 4.8.2 The internal structure of the Parliament ....................................... 146 4.8.3 Engagement with citizens ............................................................ 147 4.8.4 The competences of the ECOWAS Community Parliament ........ 148 4.8.5 The Supplementary Protocol ......................................................