PDF - 2020 Joint Law Report (2022)

This report is the product of the cooperation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that have built a solid judicial dialogue.

The year 2020 has been indelibly marked by the Covid-19 global pandemic. This public health crisis, with serious economic and social ramifications, has also created new challenges for judicial systems, whether they be national or international. Our three regional human rights Courts have had to adapt to this unprecedented situation through numerous changes to our working methods. Yet despite the challenging times we are living through, we have been able to innovate, often using IT solutions, in order to continue delivering judgments and decisions and thereby defending the rights and fundamental freedoms of millions of people on our three continents.

Despite the difficulties faced, it has been more important than ever for our three Courts to maintain our regular cooperation and dialogue as foreseen in the San José and Kampala Declarations from 2018 and 2019 respectively. Accordingly, on 9 July 2020, the first online dialogue between our three Courts took place on “The impact of Covid-19 on human rights. The perspectives of the three human rights courts of the world”. This dialogue provided a unique opportunity for our Courts to exchange information on our respective experiences, challenges and case-law. At the heart of our exchanges were the proportionality of measures taken by public authorities in the context of the pandemic, the current vital role of new technologies, and the fundamental importance defending the rule of law during this period.