Courts and Their Allies in Transnational Judicial Protection of Rights in the EAC

Across the East African Community (EAC), governments increasingly rely on abductions, enforced disappearances, and the deportation of critics across borders, thereby embedding transnational repression within broader patterns of autocratisation and shrinking civic space. In this context, regional courts cannot defend rights alone; they depend on allies such as civil society organisations (CSOs), cause lawyers, and transnational advocacy networks that mobilise law, generate information, and build coalitions in support of judicial authority. This paper examines how CSOs and legal networks in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania leverage the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) to confront cross-border repression and reshape human rights protections in the region. Drawing on a comparative analysis of landmark cases, semi-structured interviews with activists, lawyers, and judges, and archival and media materials, the paper conceptualises transnational judicial protection as a joint product of courts and their societal allies.