Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights 47 The Assembly may adopt, by simple majority, the draft amendment after all the state parties to the present Protocol have been duly informed of it and the Court has given its opinion on the amendment. 2. The Court shall also be entitled to propose such amendments to the present Protocol as it may deem necessary, through the Secretary-General of the OAU. 3. The amendment shall come into force for each state party which has accepted it thirty days after the Secretary-General of the OAU has received notice of the acceptance. _____________________________________ Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (2008/) Adopted in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 1 July 2008. Once it has entered into force, this Protocol will replace the 1998 Protocol on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the 2003 Protocol on the African Court of Justice. As of May 2013 five states had ratified the Protocol. A Protocol extending the jurisdiction of the Court to international crimes has been drafted but had as of August 2016 not been adopted. The member states of the African Union, parties to this Protocol, Recalling the objectives and principles enunciated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union, adopted on 11 July 2000 in Lomé, Togo, in particular the commitment to settle their disputes through peaceful means; Bearing in mind their commitment to promote peace, security and stability on the continent and to protect human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant instruments relating to human rights; Considering that the Constitutive Act of the African Union provides for the establishment of a Court of Justice charged with hearing, among other things, all cases relating to interpretation or application of the said Act or of all other treaties adopted within the framework of the Union; Further considering Decisions Assembly/AU/Dec.45 (III) and Assembly/AU/ Dec.83 (V) of the Assembly of the Union, adopted respectively at its third (68 July 2004, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) and fifth (4-5 July 2005, Sirte, Libya), ordinary sessions, to merge the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Court of Justice of the African Union into a single Court, Firmly convinced that the establishment of an African Court of Justice and Human Rights shall assist in the achievement of the goals pursued by the African Union and that the attainment of the objectives of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights requires the establishment of a judicial organ to supplement and strengthen the mission of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; Taking due account of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted by the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the Organization of African Unity on 10 June 1998 at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and which entered into force on 25 January 2004;