A new film from the Coalition for the Ratification of the Malabo Protocol brings together jurists and civil society leaders from across the continent on what the African Court would do, and what it will take to bring it into force.
When atrocities have occurred on this continent, history offers two familiar endings. Either those responsible were never held to account and, in more cases than we should be comfortable with, went on to hold high office or a small number were removed from the continent to be tried elsewhere, in proceedings that African victims and affected communities had little meaningful part in. Neither approach ended impunity.
The Malabo Protocol was drafted to offer a third path. Today, Atrocities Watch Africa releases a new campaign film for the Coalition for the Ratification of the Malabo Protocol (CRaMP), bringing together jurists and civil society leaders from across the continent on what this instrument would make possible.
One court, three jurisdictions
The Protocol expands the African Court of Justice and Human Rights into a single institution carrying three jurisdictions at once: the general law of the African Union, human and peoples’ rights, and international and transnational crime. As Don Deya of Pan African Lawyers Union notes in the film, it is the first time a regional court anywhere has been designed this way — a contribution not only to African justice, but to the field of international law.
Fourteen crimes, including those that drain the continent
The Court’s criminal jurisdiction extends to fourteen offences. Alongside genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, it reaches corruption, money laundering, trafficking in persons, trafficking in drugs and in hazardous waste, and the illicit exploitation of natural resources. These are the crimes that finance conflict and hollow out African economies, and they have long sat beyond the reach of any international court.
A world first: corporate criminal liability
No international criminal court has ever been able to prosecute a company. The Malabo Protocol changes that. Where harmful extraction drives illicit financial flows, destroys ecosystems and arms the militias that protect those operations — as documented across the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere — prosecuting only the individual at the head of an armed group treats the symptom. The Court would be able to reach the corporate structures behind it.
Complementary, and permanent
Two points are frequently lost in public debate. The Court complements national jurisdictions; it acts only where states are unwilling or unable to. And it is permanent, backed by the full membership of the African Union — an institution, not an ad hoc tribunal that closes when a mandate lapses or funding dries up.
What happens next
The Protocol requires fifteen ratifications to enter into force. Angola has ratified, and Angolan civil society is now working to move its government from ratification to active regional mobilisation. Fourteen states remain.
As Olivier Gikomo of Action Contre L’Impunite pour les Droits de L’homme (ACIDH) puts it in the film’s closing segment, this calls for a synergy across every civil society platform — national, regional and international — working through seminars, convenings and digital campaigning toward ratification.
To African Union member states: ratify.
To bar associations, academics, national coalitions and partners across the continent: convene, brief and campaign.
#MalaboProtocol #15StatesForMalabo #CRaMP
