Call for Papers: State Sovereignty and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

2026-05-20

Special Issue: Twenty years of the African Court’s operations

The year 2026 marks twenty years since the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights began its operations. In its two decades of existence, the Court faced increased State-led backlash mainly on account of sovereignty. Contestations that ensued, particularly in the second decade of the Court’s operations, have ranged from challenges to the jurisdiction of the Court to wholesale threats to its legitimacy and existence. Reasons advanced by States in this regard revolve largely around contentions that the judicial operations of the Court threatened their sovereignty whether from socio-political, economic or societal standpoints. There has been wide agreement among stakeholders, as crystalized prominently in scholarly work, that encroachment on State sovereignty thus became one of the main grounds for contestation which affected the Court’s operations particularly in its second decade of existence.

The impact became perceptible in the years following massive withdrawal of declarations recognizing the Court’s jurisdiction, and manifested through the sharp drop in incoming applications owing to the closure of access for individual and NGO litigants. Beyond access closure, State sovereignty has consistently featured in respondent states’ submissions before the Court, through objections to its jurisdiction, to the admissibility of cases, and even to the merits and reparation claims made by applicants.

In view of these developments, the argument and concept of sovereignty deserve interest when reflecting on the Court at twenty. This special issue seeks to address such need.

 

Contributions

We are inviting papers in English and French discussing issues related to the overarching topic of the special issue, preferably falling under the following proposed sub topics:

  1. State sovereignty and international courts: the African Court’s experience from a comparative perspective – les juridictions internationales et la souveraineté des Etats : l’expérience de la Cour africaine dans une perspective comparée
  2. Beyond State consent: the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the contemporary evolvment of sovereignty in Africa / towards an African doctrine of sovereignty as responsibility – Au-delà du consentement étatique : la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples et la mutation contemporaine de la souveraineté en Afrique / vers une doctrine africaine de la souveraineté responsable
  • Sovereignty and declarations under article 34(6) of the African Court Protocol – la souveraineté et les déclarations de reconnaissance de juridiction à l’article 34(6) du Protocole portant création de la Cour africaine
  • Should States fear the African Court? – les Etats devraient-ils craindre la Cour africaine ?
  • Sovereignty and the African Court’s jurisdiction (criminal law, economic matters, administrative and constitutional matters, …) – la souveraineté des Etats et la compétence de la Cour africaine (questions pénales, administratives et constitutionnelles)
  • State sovereignty and provisional measures before the African Court – la souveraineté des Etats et les mesures provisoires devant la Cour africaine
  • Constitutional remedies by the African Court: a review in light of State sovereignty – les mesures constitutionnelles ordonnées par la Cour africaine : une analyse à l’aune de la souveraineté des Etats
  • Domestic courts, the African Court and State sovereignty – les juridictions nationales, la Cour africaine et la souveraineté des Etats
  • The African Court’s admissibility caselaw and State sovereignty – la souveraineté des Etats et la recevabilité des requêtes devant la Cour africaine
  • State sovereignty and remedial powers of the African Court – la souveraineté des Etats et les pouvoirs de réparation de la Cour africaine
  • Does judicial enforcement of decisions infringe on sovereignty? The perspective of the African Court – la Cour africaine et le suivi judiciaire de la mise en œuvre des arrêts : un empiètement sur la souveraineté des Etats ?

Fully developed articles (of no more than 8,000 words, footnotes included) should be submitted together with an abstract, before or by 15 July 2026, on the journal platform at https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL/.  The submission must be original and not have already been published or submitted elsewhere. Submissions must adhere to the SAPL journal guidelines available here https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL/about/submissions

Direct queries to the guest editor, Prof Segnonna Adjolohoun (sadjolohoun@uwc.ac.za)