The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) is undertaking a strategic litigation initiative seeking an Advisory Opinion from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“African Court”) pursuant to Article 4 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court. The proposed request seeks judicial clarification on the scope, content, and implications of the right to reparations for Africans within the African human rights system.

As part of this process, PALU, along with its core partners—the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the University of the Witwatersrand and Reform Initiatives (RI)—convened an Expert Consultative Meeting on 20–21 August 2025 at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. This event brought together legal scholars, practitioners, reparative justice advocates, and representatives of civil society from the continent and its diaspora. The consultation provided an opportunity to interrogate the normative foundations of the right to reparations, identify key legal and factual issues, and examine the strategic opportunities and challenges associated with the proposed request.

Building upon these foundations, PALU, CALS, and RI have advanced the process of developing the draft Request. Since August 2025, the partners have prepared the “zero” draft and constituted an Expert Advisory Committee to support its review and refinement. They have also undertaken a stakeholder-mapping exercise to identify key actors and develop a plan of action for the period leading up to the proposed filing window in December 2026.

The partners continue to mobilise support and cultivate strategic partnerships as part of this process, with the aim of contributing to the growing global momentum for reparatory justice and, in particular, supporting efforts to close out the first year of the African Union Decade of Action on Reparations (2026–2035).