40 Legal Digest of International Fair Trial Rights hearing. Amongst the others regional human rights treaties, the only one that spells out a right “to have one’s cause heard by a court” is the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.113 Rights of access and equality apply equally to criminal and non-criminal proceedings. They apply whenever the domestic law entrusts a judicial body with a judicial task including, for example, in the case of disciplinary proceedings against a civil servant.114 2.1 Access to courts and tribunals The Human Rights Committee has referred to the right to equality before courts and tribunals, including equal access, as key to the protection of human rights and the safeguarding of the rule of law.115 The European Court of Human Rights has also said that the right of access to court is an inherent element of Article 6(1) of the ECHR “in view of the prominent place held in a democratic society by the right to a fair trial”.116 Article 14 of the ICCPR and Article 6(1) of the ECHR encompass the right of access to the courts in the determination of criminal charges and rights and obligations in a suit at law, for the purpose of ensuring that no individual is deprived of her/his right to claim justice.117 In Golder v the United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights acknowledges this principle: “It would be inconceivable, […] that article 6(1) should describe in detail the procedural guarantees afforded to parties in a pending lawsuit and should not first protect that which alone makes it in fact possible to benefit from such guarantees, that is, access to a court. […] It follows that the right of access constitutes an element which is inherent in the right stated by article 6(1).” 118 In civil proceedings, the right of access to court includes not only the right to institute proceedings but also the right to obtain a “determination” of the dispute by a court.119 2.1.1 Scope of application of the right of access to courts and tribunals The right of equal access to a court concerns access to first instance procedures and does not address the issue of the right to appeal or other remedies.120 Under the ICCPR, rights 113 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, also known as the Banjul Charter, adopted on 27 June 1981 by the Organization of African Unity, article 7. 114 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 7; and Perterer v Austria, HRC Communication 1015/2001, UN Doc CCPR/C/81/D/1015/2001 (2004), para 9.2. 115 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 2. 116 Golder v the United Kingdom [1975] ECHR 1, paras 35–36; Aït-Mouhoub v France [1998] ECHR 97, para 52; Z and Others v the United Kingdom [2001] ECHR 333, para 91; and Steel and Morris v the United Kingdom [2005] ECHR 103, para 59. See also Philis v Greece [1991] ECHR 38, para 65. 117 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 9; Golder v the United Kingdom [1975] ECHR 1, paras 34–36. 118 Golder v the United Kingdom [1975] ECHR 1, paras 35–36. 119 Kutić v Croatia [2002] ECHR 297, para 25; Multiplex v Croatia [2003] ECHR 351, para 45. 120 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 12.