PART C: Protection against Torture: Procedures before the African Commission and African Human Rights Court Allegations of torture and ill-treatment in violation of the African Charter or the African Women’s Rights Protocol may be brought by way of an individual communication or an inter-State communication before the African Commission or the African Court. Given the remote likelihood of frequent inter-State communications, the spotlight falls on the individual communications procedure, which has often been used before the Commission. When a significant number of similar communications have been submitted against a State, the Commission may conduct a protective (or ‘on-site’) mission in that State, as discussed in further detail in Section XI, below. IX. Individual Communications 1. Overview Article 56 of the African Charter and Part Three, Chapter III of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure lay out the essential components of an individual petition before the African Commission system.299 Any natural or legal (i.e. an NGO) person may initiate a communication before the Commission. The author need not be a lawyer or the victim. Authors or victims may engage lawyers to assist them, but this is not mandatory. The consideration of communications under the African Commission system is not exclusively in writing; the Commission often hears oral arguments and may also hear the testimony of witnesses and victims. A communication must contain the following: (a) the name, address or other contact information, age and profession of the author. The author may, however, request anonymity; (b) the name of the State Party against whom the communication is filed; (c) provisions of the Charter allegedly violated; (d) a factual description of the events or incidents on which the complaint is founded, including, as applicable, dates, locations, persons or institutions involved; (e) any injuries or other consequences of the acts complained of, with proof where applicable; (f) measures taken by the author to exhaust local remedies, or an explanation as to why local remedies will be futile; and (g) the extent to which the same issue has been settled by another international investigation or settlement body.300 299 ACHPR, Rules of Procedure, see supra note 43. 300 Ibid., Rule 93. 75