09/20/2007
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EAC TURNS ATTENTION ON REGIONAL BILL OF RIGHTS
By Leo Odera Omolo
With the process ongoing for the establishment
of the extended jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice, to introduce
the Court’s Appellate jurisdiction, the East African Community is considering
the enactment of a regional Bill of Rights that would be a source of relevant
Law for the Court.
The Summit of EAC Heads of State during its 5th Extra-Ordinary Meeting in Kampala on 18 June 2007 approved the operationalization of the Appellate jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice with effect from 1st July 2007.
The Summit of EAC Heads of State during its 5th Extra-Ordinary Meeting in Kampala on 18 June 2007 approved the operationalization of the Appellate jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice with effect from 1st July 2007.
The Secretary General of the East African Community, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu on 3 September 2007 held a meeting with a delegation of the Kituo Cha Katiba, a regional civil society organization with Observer status in the EAC, who called on him in Arusha. The discussions centred on a draft East African Bill of Rights which the Kituo cha Katiba presented to the Secretary General for consideration by the East African Community. The Kituo Cha Katiba also presented its views on the proposed Protocol on the extended jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice that will be presented for consideration and approval to the Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers that is scheduled to be held in November 2007.
The Secretary General was accompanied during the meeting at the EAC Headquarters by the Deputy Secretary General, Finance and Administration of the East African Community, Amb. Julius Onen, the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Mr. Magaga Alot, the Chef de Cabinet, Mr Henry Jabbo Obo and other Senior officials of the EAC.
The Kituo cha Katiba delegation was comprised of Professor Chris Maina Peter, Professor of Law, University of Dar es Salaam and Board Member of the Kituo Cha Katiba, Hon Aliro Omara, Commissioner, Uganda Human Rights Commission, Ms Mary Massay, Acting Executive Secretary, Tanzania Human Rights and Good Governance Commission, Ms Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, Vice Chair, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Mr Gashirabake Jean Marie, Human Rights Officer, Rwanda National Human Rights Commission, Ms Safia Masoud Khamis, Commissioner, Tanzania Human Rights and Good Governance Commission, Mr Said Mussa Muhammed, Good Governance Co-ordinator, Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and Good Governance, Zanzibar, Mr Anthony Kuria, Principal Human Rights Officer , Kenya National Commission on Human Rights , Ms Patricia Nduru, Acting Senior Human Rights Officer, Uganda Human Rights Commission and Ms Edith Kibalama, Executive Director, Kituo Cha Katiba.
Elaborate Bill of Rights would unite East Africans under full democratic dispensation
The delegation of Kituo Cha Katiba stressed the need for the East African countries to have a clearly stated and recognized position on Human Rigths. The proposed regional Bill of Rights would complement any existing national Bill of Rights and international Human Rights Instruments, including the various UN and AU Protocols and Covenants on Human Rights. The regional Bill of Rights should have provisions for economic and social rights which are well elaborated with provisions for the protection of those rights. Social protection should be guaranteed for groups within societies which, for reasons beyond their control, cannot protect themselves such as children, minorities and other vulnerable groups.
The Bill of Rights should provide on the issues of equality, personal liberty, access to justice, including the principle of presumption of innocence and indicate how these would be ensured and protected. The issue of right to information should involve the imperative of governments’ accountability to the people, hence the right of citizens to access to information. The Kituo Cha Katiba delegates also seek to link freedom of association to the rights of the individual, for example, the right to contest elections as an individual (independent candidates). Similarly, the human rights advocates address the issues of freedom of movement, right to work, reside and own property within the EAC region; sexual reproductive rights, with the whole range of issues involved; rights of refugees and internally displaced persons; and, on the whole, the recognition of the principle that rights are to be limited only by Law whereby such limitation are acceptable and ascribed within the bounds of democratic society.
The Human Rights advocates envisage a Bill of Rights that captures as much as possible the aspirations of the people of East Africa and that also imposes duties on the citizens and individuals to meet their obligations , for example , to report acts of corruption and on corporations, the obligation to refrain from acts of corruption. The Bill of Rights would have strong content under the jurisdiction of a strong regional Court that would assist to entrench a human rights regime in the EAC and the achievement of greater unity within East Africa founded on the bedrock of human rights commitment and strict observance.
Secretary General promises action on development of Bill of Rights
The Secretary General of the East African Community, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu thanked the Kituo Cha Katiba for its excellent work in co-operation with the EAC noting that since its establishment in 1997, the Kituo Cha Katiba had taken EAC as its main focus, with among its activities the annual review and publication of the State of Constitutionalism in East Africa . Amb. Mwapachu said the Kituo Cha Katiba had become a centre of excellence, a “think tank”, of the EAC on the legal and constitutional matters.
He thanked the Kituo Cha Katiba for the initiative of the draft Bill of Rights,
stating that the Bill of Rights was a fundamental Instrument which should
be considered as an addendum to the EAC Treaty. He said that the EAC has
in the past concentrated on economic integration but “as we move deeper into
regional integration”, the need to address good governance and Human Rights
issues had come to the fore. He said the draft Bill of Rights initiative
was “the beginning of tackling the Human Rights and good governance issues
that we should have done in the past ten years”.
The Secretary General said that with the already established EAC Customs
Union in 2005, the process towards the establishment of the Political Federation
of the East African States was on course. He said the remaining stages
of the EAC integration process would be pursued in a systematic and expedited
progression towards the Common Market and Monetary Union by 2012 and thereafter
the Political Federation as the culmination of the integration process. He
said the networking of the existing national human rights commissions, including
the possibility of forming them into an East African Human Rights Commission,
should be pursued in this context of the movement towards the ultimate goal
of East African Federation. He said the national Human Rights Commissions
had important roles as Ombudsman in preventing human rights violations and
protecting victims, whereas the envisaged East African Court of extended
jurisdiction was the last recourse after the occurrence or incidents of
rights violation.
The Secretary General emphasized that the draft Bill of Human Rights
should be thoroughly exposed to the national governments and gets their support
even before presented to the EAC Secretariat. He said there was need to do
sufficient groundwork in the Partner States and involve the National Human
Rights Commissions as well as the broad spectrum of stakeholders in the development
of the regional Bill of Rights. He advised the Kituo Cha Katiba to find the
quickest means possible to place the issues before the EAC Partner States.
In the meantime, the Secretary General said, the Bill of Rights issue
would be placed on the Agenda of the EAC Council of Ministers that is scheduled
for November 2007 along with the item on the consideration of the Protocol
on the extended jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice.
Ends
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