ISBN 978-0-9935214-1-6 Published by Media Legal Defence Initiative This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This means that you are free to share and adapt this work so long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Any such sharing or adaptation must be for purposes, and must be made available under the same alike” “share terms. Full licence terms can be found at . Contents TRAINING MANUAL ON LITIGATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN EAST AFRICA 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 1.1 What is the rule of subsidiarity as applied to international human rights litigation and the African human rights system? 5 1.2 What is the purpose and function of international and regional litigation? 5 1.3 What roles do the domestic, regional and international systems 1.4 What is your objective in litigating at the domestic or regional level? 6 1.5 When should you take your case to the international and regional human rights system? 6 1.6 How do you file a case with the regional and international systems? 7 1.7 Admissibility: what are the concepts of jurisdiction, exhaustion of domestic remedies and the obligation to file within a reasonable period? 7 A. Jurisdiction 8 B. Admissibility 8 1.8 Representation before the Commission 9 1.9 Merits 9 1.10 Remedies 9 Chapter 2: African Commission 10 2.1 Introduction 10 2.2 The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 11 2.3 Seizure: 14 A. Identity of the author 16 B. Compatibility 16 C. Disparaging language 17 D. Mass media 18 E. Local remedies 18 Any local remedies must be effective and sufficient” 19 “available, Exceptions to the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies 21 a) Unduly prolonged 22
ISBN 978-0-9935214-1-6 Published by Media Legal Defence Initiative This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This means that you are free to share and adapt this work so long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Any such sharing or adaptation must be for purposes, and must be made available under the same “share alike” terms. Full licence terms can be found at . Contents TRAINING MANUAL ON LITIGATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN EAST AFRICA 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 1.1 What is the rule of subsidiarity as applied to international human rights litigation and the African human rights system? 5 1.2 What is the purpose and function of international and regional litigation? 5 1.3 What roles do the domestic, regional and international systems 1.4 What is your objective in litigating at the domestic or regional level? 6 1.5 When should you take your case to the international and regional human rights system? 6 1.6 How do you file a case with the regional and international systems? 7 1.7 Admissibility: what are the concepts of jurisdiction, exhaustion of domestic remedies and the obligation to file within a reasonable period? 7 A. Jurisdiction 8 B. Admissibility 8 1.8 Representation before the Commission 9 1.9 Merits 9 1.10 Remedies 9 Chapter 2: African Commission 10 2.1 Introduction 10 2.2 The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 11 2.3 Seizure: 14 A. Identity of the author 16 B. Compatibility 16 C. Disparaging language 17 D. Mass media 18 E. Local remedies 18 Any local remedies must be “available, effective and sufficient” 19 Exceptions to the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies 21 a) Unduly prolonged 22