Africa Court sets for more engagement
President of the African Court for Human and Peoples Rights (AfCHPR) Justice Slyvain Ore has said, the court should strive at getting closer to the people through a more effective tool for managing its communication and media relations.
Ore said this during an inauguration of a consultative meeting to review the court’s media and communication strategy.
He said time has come for the court to increase its visibility on the continent and beyond.
“We believe that the court has a lot of work to do on the continent in handling cases related to human rights from countries that have ratified and deposited both the protocol and their declaration for the court. There has been a lot of work that the court has been doing. People of Africa and the whole world need to know what we are doing to ensure that the rights of people across the continent are being preserved,” Ore said.
The consultative meeting follows the expiration of the court’s media and communication strategy in 2015.
Africa Court’s senior information and communications officer Sukhdev Chhatbar said the new media and communication strategy for the court would enhance the court’s work in reaching out to millions of people on the continent.
“Our goal is to have a strategy that is relevant to the modern dynamics of media and communications. It should encompass various tools for outreach activities, traditional and new media including promotional work for the court. It will also enhance engagement between the court and various stakeholders such as the civil society, the media, the judiciary and other important groups,” he said.
One of the participants at the event Lucas Baraza, a journalist with the Nation of Kenya said the court should strive to reach the rural masses through networking.
“The fact that the new media strategy for the court includes networking with various stakeholders should be a step in the right direction. The linkages between the court and its partners would ensure that its work is amplified to reach people in remotest parts of the continent,” he said.
