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Murray, Long, Ayeni and Somé/Monitoring implementation of decisions
the ruling.23 The procedure is in effect a new application, for
interpretation of a judgment, as set out in Rule 66 of the Rules of Court.
Here, however, the roles are reversed: the State then becoming the
applicant, and the previous applicant, the respondent.
Are such processes insufficient or simply not properly used? Why,
given the above tools, has the African Commission, for example, not
produced publicly available information on the status of
implementation of at least some of its decisions? In part, the processes
do not appear to have been exploited to their full potential due to
limited information from States, and insufficient staffing resources,
among other factors. In addition, there are also key processes or tools
behind the scenes that are missing, such as efficient and comprehensive
case management systems or databases which, if in place, would help
the monitoring overall. The task of follow-up and monitoring
implementation has been added on to already existing processes but
with limited if any additional resources.
Specific mechanisms have also been established to enable the
bodies themselves to monitor implementation of their decisions and
judgments. These, as will be seen, encompass many of the types of
monitoring that are listed above. Rule 112 of the African Commission’s
Rules of Procedure sets out the procedure for ‘follow-up’ to be used by
the African Commission. Here its role includes reporting, informationgathering, assessment and arguably enforcement and is not only
reactive but also proactive. These roles have principally been
coordinated by the African Commission’s Working Group on
Communications, composed of Commissioners and members of the
secretariat, which is tasked with considering communications.24 Its
mandate was expanded in October 2012 to include the coordination of
follow-up of decisions and collection of ‘information on the status of
implementation of the Commission’s decisions’ that it should then
present in a report at each session.25
Article 29 of the Court Protocol gives the task of monitoring to the
AU’s Executive Council although its ability to do so is dependent on the
African Court providing it with the information on ‘non-compliance’ in
its activity report.26 In a 2014 Decision, the Executive Council called on
the African Court to ‘propose, for consideration by the PRC, a concrete
reporting mechanism that will enable it to bring to the attention of
relevant policy organs, situations of non-compliance and/or any other
issues within its mandate, at any time, when the interests of justice so
23
See for instance, Mkandawire v Malawi, Application 3/2011 http://en.africancourt.org/images/Cases/Judgment/Ruling%20Appl.%20003-2011%20Urban%20Mka
ndawire%20v%20Malawi%20-%20English.pdf (accessed 12 July 2017); and
Interpretation of Judgment of 20 November 2015 Thomas v Tanzania, Application 1/
2017 (Judgment 28 September 2017).
24
African Commission, Resolution 212 on the mandate of the Working Group on
Communications of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted
March 2012.
25
African Commission, Resolution 255 on the expansion of the mandate of the
Working Group on Communications and Modifying its Composition, adopted October
2012.
26
Article 31 of the Court Protocol.
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