App. 002/2019_ Yacouba Traore vs Mali
Yacoube Traore vs Republic of Mali
On January 14th, 2019, Mr. Yacouba Traore (the Applicant) filed an application instituting proceedings against the Republic of Mali (the defendant State) before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (the ACHPR or the Court) for alleged violations of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Charter) in its article 7.
Mr. Traore maintains that on March 7th, 2006, the company ANALABS and a collective of workers of which he was a member concluded a memorandum of understanding approved by the Sikasso labour inspector. Under this protocol, the employer was, inter alia, debtor of the sum of 500,000 CFA francs, for the benefit of each of the 9 workers whose contracts were terminated. The Applicant points out that, in order to enforce the said protocol, he had to apply on January 19th, 2012 to the Bamako Labour Court, which, by judgment of May 21st, 2012, declared that it lacked jurisdiction and referred him to the Sikasso Labour Court. This court declared the action time-barred, following judgment of November 4th, 2013. Following the Applicant’s appeal, this judgment was confirmed by judgment of the Court of Appeal of Bamako of April 2nd, 2015. The Applicant stated that he had lodged an appeal in cassation against this judgment but the “file remained untraceable after several searches with the President of the Social Chamber” of the Supreme Court.
Mali raised objections regarding the jurisdiction and inadmissibility of the Application. After examining the pleas in law, the Court held that it had jurisdiction to hear the case. With regard to admissibility, it examined in turn all the criteria listed in Rule 50 of the Rules of Court and concluded that the application was inadmissible to the extent that domestic remedies had not been exhausted.
This summary is provided for informational purposes only, does not involve the responsibility of Dome and should in no way be used as a substitute for a careful reading of the judgment and order of the case.
