scholarly journals Litigating gender discrimination cases before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-158
Author(s):  
Osai Ojigho
2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edefe Ojomo

Abstract This article argues that regional access to justice in West Africa provides an alternative to national access to justice through the institution of the ecowas Community Court of Justice. This gives West Africans the option of pursuing justice in national judicial institutions or in the ecowas Court. Therefore, it reveals a situation where both systems compete for effectiveness in meeting the justice demands of citizens while also encouraging greater complementarity in their institutional activities.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos O. Enabulele ◽  
Anthony Osaro Ewere

This article highlights a major source of tension between the Supplementary Protocol of the Economic Community of West Africa States Community Court of Justice (ECOWAS CCJ) and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (CFRN), in relation to the enforcement of economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights against Nigeria, as manifested in a recent decision of the ECOWAS CCJ in Registered Trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) v Federal Republic of Nigeria and Universal Basic Education Commission. The focus of this article on the tension is both from the perspective of Nigerian law and of the ECOWAS CCJ. It argues that while the CFRN cannot deprive the ECOWAS CCJ of the jurisdiction expressly given to it by its Protocols, the CFRN does have implications for the enforcement of any decision of the ECOWAS CCJ that offends its provisions within the CFRN sphere of superiority.


Author(s):  
Solomon T. Ebobrah

This chapter examines whether the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (ECCJ or Court), as an international court operating in the West African region with its peculiar sociopolitical and economic context, enjoys any form or degree of actual authority in any of its main functions. The ECCJ’s two contrasting epochs represent a variation in the authority of the Court. Whereas under its 1991 Protocol, the Court enjoyed limited de jure authority with little potential for growing its de facto authority, the 2005 Supplementary Protocol introduced expansions that increased the potential for enhanced de facto authority. Ultimately, the Court’s authority varies significantly both in terms of areas of competence, as among different court-users and in relation to wider communities in its State Parties. Arguably, these variations indicate that different factors influence the responses that the Court attracts from different user-groups.


2021 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 29-65

29Human rights — Freedom of expression — Free speech — Journalists — Restriction of access to public information — Criminalization of defamation, sedition and insult — Torture and inhuman or degrading treatment — Unlawful and arbitrary detention — Living in exile — Whether Gambian laws violating rights of journalistsTreaties — Human rights treaties — Treaty obligations — Obligations under regional and international human rights treaties — Compliance of arrest and detention with treaty obligations — Compliance of Gambia’s libel, sedition and false news publication laws with its treaty obligations — African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981 — Revised Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States, 1993 — International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 — Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948International tribunals — Jurisdiction — Community Court of Justice of Economic Community of West African States — Non-applicability of exhaustion of domestic remedies — Statute of limitations — Interpretation of Article 9(3) Supplementary Protocol, 2005 — Whether statute of limitations applicable — Whether Community Court of Justice decisions affirming statutory limitation to be overruled — Whether Court having jurisdiction


2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-137
Author(s):  
A.O. Enabulele

AbstractOnly recently, the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, which was hitherto opened only to Community States, was expanded to allow direct human rights violation claims by individuals. Though the court has since started to function, its impact is yet to be felt ‐ citizens of recalcitrant Community States still live in wanton violation of their rights in most of the States, where national courts are weak and effective remedies for rights violations largely nonexistent. This is consequent upon the failure of Community States to align their national laws with the new legal order represented by the Community Court; national laws and indeed national courts are still very hostile to the court and its judgements, thereby discouraging citizens from attending the court. This Article takes a look at the relevant provisions of the constitutions of Community States and advocates an urgent need for the cooperation to be forged between national legal systems and the community legal system through the amendment of hostile laws, as a prerequisite to the achievement of the virile community legal order.


2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunday Babalola Ajulo

Articles 6(e) and 15(1–4) of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty (1993) provide for the establishment of a Court of Justice of the Community. These provisions should, however, be read along with those of the Protocol on the Community Court of Justice initialled in 1991. Attempts have been made to analyse various aspects of the institutions of the Community, including the Court of Justice. While Bankole Thompson examined the legal problems of the economic integration in West Africa, Kofi Oteng Kufuor attempted to look at the Court of Justice from the angle of compliance with its judgments by member states. Denakin, for his part, appraised generally the prospects of the Court.


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