The court recently celebrated 10 years of existence during a ceremony held in Arusha, Tanzania. Photo/CFM-FILE.
The two – Justice Bensaoula Chafika from Algeria and Justice Chizumila Rose Tujilane from Malawi – were elected in January during the 28th Assembly of the African Union heads of state and government.
After their swearing in, the duo will join another 9 judges completing the quorum for the 11-member court which for the first time in the history will have five female judges sitting at the court.
The increased number of female Judges is the fulfilment of the requirement for adequate gender representation provided for in Article 12(2) and Article 14(3) of the Protocol establishing the court.
During the session which will run to March 24, the judges will examine about 80 applications and for Requests for Advisory Opinion.
The court will also entertain two public hearings in application number three of 2014 of Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire v Republic of Rwanda on 16 March and Application 012/2015 of Anudo Ochieng Anudo v United Republic of Tanzania on 17 March.
The new judges will be replacing outgoing justices Hon. Justice Fatsah Ouguergouz (Algeria) and Hon. Justice Duncan Tambala (Malawi) whose term came to an end on 5 September, 2016.
The Court’s Judges are elected for a term of six-years and renewable once.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Kibo Hall at the African Court premises at the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) building on 6 March from 10 am.
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