"Individuals and NGOs are currently the only ones bringing cases to the African humans rights court," former deputy chairman of the ACHPR, Fatsah Ouguergouz, told DW.
"The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights probably no longer has the interest in going to court, nor are the individual states prepared to do so," he said.
Up against weak justice systems
Human rights organization Amnesty International warns that many governments not only boycott the ACHPR but also weaken their own country's local courts.
"The alternative is to tell people to turn to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to appeal to the court indirectly," Fidele Kikan, Amnesty International's Country Director in Benin, told DW.
Human rights activists like Kikan are also surprised by the fact that the same heads of state and government authorities who are rebelling in Africa against alleged paternalism by international courts aren't cooperating when it comes to African jurisdiction.
