Extraordinary Rendition and Extraterritorial State Obligations in African Human Rights System
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Extraordinary rendition is a coercive, clandestine and illegal capturing and transferring of
individuals from one state to another by state agents, or agents acting under the sponsorship of
another state. By its nature, extraordinary rendition entails multifaceted human rights violations
including denial of access to competent and impartial tribunals, to fair trails, and due process of
law but worryingly involves torture as a means of interrogation. Moreover, in a single
extraordinary rendition act several states may be involved as organizers, facilitators, abductors
and safe-keepers, almost always clandestinely. Extraordinary rendition is thus a very complex
and clandestine act which makes it difficult to establish responsibility against the participant
state extraterritorially.
The African states‟ participation in the U.S program of extraordinary rendition and the creation
of a similar approach among African states and other states have raised the question of the
extraterritorial scope of the African Charter. Thus, the primary objective of this thesis is
answering the question of when an African state is involved in extraordinary rendition activities
and affects the lives of individuals outside its sovereign territory, how will it be responsible
pursuant to the African Charter to which this African state is a party? It is true that the African
Charter does not explicitly prohibit extraordinary rendition. But in order to answer the
aforementioned question, the thesis analyses the African Charter and the jurisprudence of the
African Commission. In addition, the paper makes analyses on the jurisprudence of international
and regional human rights systems which it uses as „inspirational sources‟ for the interpretation
and application of the African Charter in case of extraordinary rendition. Therefore, the thesis
strongly argues that the notion of state obligation under the African Charter could be applied to
extraordinary rendition which violates human rights in extraterritorial context. The paper also
makes an analysis on the practice of extraordinary rendition in Africa. The role of the African
Commission and the remedies available for victims of extraordinary rendition in the African
human rights system are also dealt under this paper.
Description
Keywords
Extraordinary Rendition and Extraterritorial State Obligations