own part to provide an effective and prompt remedy. At the very least, in such cases, the admissibility requirement that the complaint must not be pending before any other international mechanism should be waived so that the complainant has the option to approach other relevant mechanisms for justice. Another limitation at the ACHPR is that hearings are not scheduled in advance and they are generally held in private. Neither the press nor the public has any access to the hearings. The decisions of the Commission are by way of recommendations to the State and not binding judgments. Implementation of these recommendations therefore depends entirely on the goodwill of the State concerned that may or may not take the recommendations seriously. Attached as Annexure 4A is the standard format for submission of complaints. The same guidelines apply to submission of complaints raising violations of the Protocol (see point 4.3 below). 4.2 The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR) was established as a legal entity by a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This Protocol was signed in June 1998 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by the African Heads of State. The Court came into being only on 25 January 2005, with the ratification by fifteen Member States. Its seat is in Arusha, Tanzania. To date, the African Court has only delivered one final judgment in a concrete case of human rights violations. Institutional relationship For some time, the relationship between the Court and the Commission was not clear. However, two joint meetings regarding this issue have taken place in 2009. The two organs finally harmonised their interim rules of procedure and in particular points relating to  their complementarity;  the consultation mechanisms between the Court and the Commission;  their respective advisory opinion;  the seizure of the Court by the Commission;  representation of the Commission before the Court; and  points relating to content of the application and the transfer of procedure to the case file to the Court by the Commission. In 2004, the AU decided to integrate the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights with the African Court of Justice (ACJ) out of the concern for the growing number of AU institutions. The ACJ is not yet operational but it is intended to be the principal judicial organ of the AU. While the courts should be merged, the AU Commission recommended that the integrity of the jurisdiction of the two courts should be retained. The AU Commission recommended administering the protocols governing the two courts by way of special chambers, and by adopting a new protocol. This new protocol (“Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights”) was adopted by the AU Assembly of Heads of States and Governments. Fifteen countries need to ratify it before a merged court can come into force.107 107 The highlighted text is taken from: Claiming Human Rights - Guide to International Procedures Available in Cases of Human Rights Violations in Africa http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/sadc.html). REDRESS | REGIONAL MECHANISMS 31