Justice Bensaoula Chafika is an Algerian jurist who was elected judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for a six-year term in January 2017. Justice Chafika received a Doctorate in Public Law and is a lecturer at the National School of Magistracy in Algeria. At one point in her career, she also served as Director of the Department of Legal Studies and Documentation at the Ministry of Justice. Other positions she has taken up include Inspector of Administrative and Judicial Courts and member of the Board of Directors of the Institut de Droit et Justice.

She has been a judge of the Criminal Affairs Chambers and Court of Appeal in Algeria and was nominated for the International Narcotics Control Board by the Algerian government in 2016. As a judge in the Criminal Affairs Chambers, she handled cases related to delinquents. Justice Chafika was elected to the African Court in 2017, alongside Justice Tujilane Chizumila. The two women were sworn in at the same time, historically lifting the number of women in the court up to five. This enabled the African Court to reach the gender parity requirement stated in Article 12(2) and Article 14(3) of the Protocol that established it. Justice Chafika was elected to the Court during the 28th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union and was appointed during the 44th Ordinary Session of the Court in March 2017.

She has written several publications on administrative matters, including ‘The issue of mediation in Algerian Civil and Administrative Procedure Code’, ‘Conciliation in Administrative Matters’, and ‘Enforcement of administrative judgments by the administration’. She speaks French, Arabic, and English.