# Foundational texts — EAC / CAE Habré

The instruments that may be cited from project knowledge when present.

## 1. Accord entre le Gouvernement de la République du Sénégal et l'Union africaine sur la création de Chambres africaines extraordinaires au sein des juridictions sénégalaises

**Signed:** Dakar, **22 August 2012**.

**Parties:** Republic of Senegal and African Union (represented by the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma).

**Function:** **the bilateral establishing instrument**. The Accord:
- Creates the Chambres Africaines Extraordinaires (CAE / EAC) as integrated chambers within the Senegalese judicial system
- Annexes the **Statut des CAE** (Statute of the EAC)
- Defines the AU's institutional role (judicial appointments, funding coordination, Trust Fund supervision)
- Provides for funding (voluntary contributions from AU member States and international partners)
- Provides for the Trust Fund for Victims (Fonds des Victimes) under AU management

## 2. Statut des Chambres africaines extraordinaires

**Annexed to** the Accord of 22 August 2012.

**Function:** the operative substantive and procedural framework. The EAC has **no separate "Statute"** in the international tribunal sense — the Statut is the Statute, annexed to the bilateral Accord, and applied within the Senegalese judicial system in conjunction with the Senegalese Code of Criminal Procedure (where not displaced).

**Key articles:**

- **Article 1** — Création. Chambres africaines extraordinaires au sein des juridictions sénégalaises.
- **Article 2** — Siège à Dakar.
- **Article 3 — Compétence.**
  - **Ratione temporis:** crimes committed in Chad between **7 June 1982 and 1 December 1990** (the Habré presidency)
  - **Ratione loci:** crimes committed in the territory of Chad
  - **Ratione personae:** "le ou les principaux responsables" (the person or persons most responsible)
- **Article 4 — Genocide.**
- **Article 5 — Crimes contre l'humanité.** Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, **rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, and any other form of sexual violence**, persecution, enforced disappearance of persons, other inhumane acts.
- **Article 6 — Crimes de guerre.** Murder, torture, inhumane treatment, willful causing of great suffering, unlawful detention, intentional attacks against civilian population — applied in the context of the Chad-Libya armed conflict (1982-1990).
- **Article 7 — Torture.** Defined as in the Convention against Torture (1984).
- **Article 8 — Responsabilité pénale individuelle.** Commission, planning, ordering, instigating, aiding and abetting, joint criminal enterprise, command/superior responsibility.
- **Article 9 — Inopposabilité de la qualité officielle.** Heads of State, government officials, government agents — no immunity. The Statute provision is consistent with customary international law and tracks the Rome Statute Art. 27 framework.
- **Article 10 — Imprescriptibilité.** No statute of limitations for international crimes within the EAC's jurisdiction.
- **Articles 11-12 — Composition.** Judges nominated by Senegal, formally appointed by the African Union Commission. The Presidents of the Trial and Appeals Chambers are non-Senegalese African nationals appointed by the AU.
- **Article 13 — Investigative Chamber** (Chambre Africaine Extraordinaire d'Instruction).
- **Article 14 — Trial Chamber** (Chambre Africaine Extraordinaire d'Assises).
- **Article 15 — Appeals Chamber** (Chambre Africaine Extraordinaire d'Assises d'Appel).
- **Article 16 — Procureur Général.**
- **Article 17 — Droits de la défense.**
- **Articles 18-19 — Droits des parties civiles** (civil parties — robust participation in the Senegalese civil-law tradition).
- **Articles 27-28 — Réparations aux victimes et Fonds des victimes** (Reparations to victims; Trust Fund). The EAC orders reparations directly against the convicted person; execution is delegated to the AU Trust Fund.

## 3. Code de procédure pénale sénégalais and Code pénal sénégalais

Applied supplementarily where not displaced by the Accord and the Statut. The Senegalese civil-law procedural framework structures the EAC's proceedings (instruction, audience, parties civiles, réquisitoire, jugement, arrêt).

## 4. Loi n° 2007-05 du 12 février 2007

Senegalese law incorporating international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes) into the Senegalese Penal Code. Important context — the ECOWAS Court of Justice held in *Habré v. Senegal* (18 November 2010) that retroactive application of this law to Habré would violate the principle of non-retroactivity, which conditioned the international character of the EAC.

## 5. Loi n° 2007-04 du 12 février 2007

Senegalese law establishing extraterritorial jurisdiction of Senegalese courts over international crimes. Same context as the 2007-05 law.

## 6. Antecedent jurisprudence — the regional and international foundations

### ECOWAS Court of Justice judgment

*Hissène Habré v. Republic of Senegal*, Case No. ECW/CCJ/JUD/06/10, ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, **18 November 2010**.

**Function:** held that Habré's prosecution by Senegalese ordinary courts under the retroactive 2007 laws would violate the principle of non-retroactivity. Authorised prosecution only **before an ad hoc court of an "international character"** ("fair juger dans le cadre strict d'une procédure spécial ad hoc à caractère international", para. 61). This judgment **dictated the institutional shape of the future EAC** — internationalised character was a constitutional necessity, not a political choice.

### International Court of Justice judgment

*Questions concerning the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v. Senegal)*, Judgment, ICJ Reports 2012, p. 422, **20 July 2012**.

**Function:** held unanimously that Senegal had breached its obligations under Article 7 of the Convention against Torture (*aut dedere aut judicare*) and was required, "without further delay, to submit the case of Mr. Habré to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution, if it does not extradite him". This judgment **compelled Senegal to act** and led directly to the Accord with the AU of 22 August 2012.

## 7. Convention against Torture (CAT)

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, New York, 10 December 1984. Senegal ratified the CAT in 1986; Chad ratified in 1995.

**Article 7** — *aut dedere aut judicare* (extradite or prosecute) — the substantive basis of Senegal's obligation, confirmed by the ICJ.

## Working with foundational texts in project knowledge

Recommended workflow:
1. Add the **Statut des CAE** to project knowledge for any substantial EAC work.
2. Add the **Accord UA-Sénégal of 22 August 2012** for institutional questions.
3. Add the **ICJ *Belgium v. Senegal* judgment of 20 July 2012** for jurisdictional questions.
4. Add the **ECOWAS Court *Habré v. Senegal* judgment of 18 November 2010** for the regional context.

If not in project knowledge, retrieve from forumchambresafricaines.org, legal-tools.org, or icj-cij.org.