Summary:
This case was filed on 6 November 2020 and is currently pending before the East African Court of Justice in Arusha. The applicant organizations brought proceedings against Tanzania and Uganda to stop the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which would be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, in these two States. They claimed that the respondent governments had signed agreements to build the pipeline even though the project is environmentally untenable and will traverse protected areas in East Africa. They also claimed that the affected people in both Uganda and Tanzania would suffer substantial and irreparable losses from the project, as well as damage to the environment. They submitted that the agreements in question were signed without the submission of an environmental and social impact assessment. As a result, the project had gone ahead despite undue regard to East African law, international environmental law and human rights law. They also made claims that the third respondent, the Secretary General of the East African Community, had failed to discharge his obligations under the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community concerning matters affecting the community.
Rights invoked:
The applicants invoked articles 2, 3, 4, 7 (1), 9, 13 (1), 14, 16, 21, 22, and 24 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. They also invoked articles 2, 14, 16, and 17 of the Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Natural Resources. Furthermore, they argued that the project was inconsistent with the respondents’ commitments under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.
Date of filing:
6 November 2020
Facts:
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Temporary injunction:
On 6 November 2020, the applicants applied for a temporary injunction restraining the respondents from constructing the pipeline until their case had been decided by the East African Court of Justice.
A hearing in this matter was held on 1 March 2022. The hearing was livestreamed. The Court’s First Instance Division then adjourned the issue pending its determination of the main case.
Admissibility:
The reference was, the applicants submit, filed within the statutory period of two months of the imputed actions and omissions of the respondent States. The respondents contested this, as well as the jurisdiction of the court to consider issues concerning human rights as well as arguing that the matter was not ripe for a hearing. On 5 April 2023, the East African Court of Justice heard arguments for and against these objections to the court’s jurisdiction. In a judgment issed on 29 November 2023, the Court declared the case out of time, considering that it had been filed outside the time period set out in the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.
The Court’s finding on ratione temporis jurisdiction was appealed by the applicants, who argued that they could not have challenged the agreement under the required 60-day time limit because it was not made public until 2020, despite having been signed in 2017. If successful on appeal, the case would be returned to the Court’s first instance division.
Merits:
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Remedies:
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Separate opinions:
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Measures taken as a result of the judgment:
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Status of case:
A hearing in the case was held on 2 July 2021. Appeal hearings were set to begin on 15 November 2024.
Suggested case citation:
East African Court of Justice, Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights et al. v. Tanzania, Uganda and the Secretary General of the East African Community, petition filed on 6 November 2020, Application No. 29 of 2020.
Links:
- For the full text of the original application brought before the Court, click here (via climatecasechart.com).
- For the full judgment of 29 November 2023, see here.
- For a summary of the developments of April 2023, see here.
- For an outline of the case, see The Wave.
Last updated:
13 November 2024