Admissibility
Unreasonable delay in filing the applications – article 56(6)
The reasonableness of timelines for referral of cases to the Court depends on the
circumstances of each case and must be determined on a case-by-case basis (Zongo & Others
v Burkina Faso, Preliminary Objections, Application …, 21 June 2013 para 121; Abubakari
Mohamed v The United Republic of Tanzania, Merits, Application 007/2013, 3 June 2016
para 91).
The Court considers that there is no undue delay where local circumstances warranted the
applicant to wait for almost a year before lodging the communication before the Court. To the
court, waiting for one year before bring the application was not an inordinate delay because
the applicant was entitled to await Parliament’s reaction to the judgment (Tanganyika Law
Society, The Legal and Human Rights Centre v The United Republic of Tanzania, application
009/2011; Reverend Christopher R. Mtikila v The United Republic of Tanzania, application
011/2011, judgment, 14 June 2013, para 83).
Where an applicant has exhausted local remedies and the respondent state later makes a
declaration under article 34(6) allowing individual access, the reasonable time for submission
of application to the Court should be counted from the time of the declaration. (Alex Thomas
v United Republic of Tanzania, application 005/2013, judgment, 20 November 2015, para 73;
Abubakari Mohamed v The United Republic of Tanzania, Merits, Application 007/2013, 3
June 2016 para 89). A delay of three years and five monts after declaration for an
incarcerated person to approach the Court was not considered unreasonable considering
among other problems for the applicant in accessing court records (Thomas para 74).
The fact that an applicant is indigent, illiterate, imprisoned, not represented by a lawyer and
not provided legal aid by the respondent state must justify the Court assessing flexibility of
timeline for seizure of the Court (Abubakari Mohamed v The United Republic of Tanzania,
Merits, Application 007/2013, 3 June 2016 para 92). A delay of 3 years, 3 months and 10
days is not unreasonable give the circumstances of the applicant ( Abubakari paras 90, 92 &
93).