TONY Anene-Maidoh, senior official of the ECOWAS Court, has blamed the unequal application of international and regional instruments that confer civil and political rights on citizens for the resort to opposition, litigations and social unrest by citizens in ECOWAS Member States.

‘When civil and political rights are not guaranteed to all as part of equal protection of laws, or when such guarantees exist on paper but are not respected in practice, opposition, legal action and even social unrest may ensue^,’ he said during a UN organized panel discussion on the Adjudication of Civil and Political Rights held in Dakar on Thursday, 22nd March 2018.

Anene-Maidoh, who is the chief registrar of the Court, characterized Civil and Political Rights as a fundamental part of international human rights and considered as first generation rights that guarantee equal protection under the law for citizens.

The chief registrar, who spoke on “Jurisprudence of The ECOWAS Court of Justice on Civil and Political Rights”, said that ECOWAS has through a plethora of regional and international instruments mainstreamed the respect and protection of human rights in the sub region and provided the necessary legal framework for the promotion, protection and respect of human rights.

Among them are the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance which guarantees the political rights of Community citizens particularly in the context of full participation in their government, free, fair and transparent elections as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights which guarantees Political Rights.

Additionally, he said during the one day discussion which was organized by the United Nations Office in West Africa that the Court has relied on the provision of the regional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, the African Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in enforcing political rights.

In demonstration of this disposition, he said that the court has held that human rights protection constitutes a cardinal and fundamental value for the community thereby contributing to an emerging human rights regime in West Africa exemplified by the rigour of its pronouncements that has attracted international acclaim, citing various cases decided by the court.

Through these pronouncements, he said there is an increasing consciousness among community citizens and other persons within the jurisdiction of member states that they have access to a regional court to seek redress for human rights violation without exhausting local remedies while member states are aware that they can be held accountable for their treaty obligations.

In discharging its four-fold mandate, the chief registrar said that the court has also tried to maintain good relations with the national courts of member states by insisting that it would not entertain matters reserved for the domestic court or metamorphose into a domestic court by emphasizing its international character.

“A key element of the relationship between the ECOWAS Court of Justice and the National Courts of Member States is the constant declaration of the Court that it is not an Appellate Court or Court of Cassation over the domestic Courts of Member States,” the chief registrar added, citing a very long line of cases through which it has affirmed the mantra that it is not an Appellate Court.

The ECOWAS Court was set up under the 1993 ECOWAS Revised Treaty originally as a Community court but with the amendment of its 1991 Protocol by Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/01/05 of January 2005, it was given the jurisdiction to determine cases of violation of human rights that occur in any Member State.

The Supplementary Protocol also granted individuals and corporate bodies direct access to the Court, in respect of certain causes of action, an amendment that granted the court four distinct mandates- a Community Court, an Arbitration Tribunal, an ECOWAS Public Service Court and a Human Rights Court.

– Apr. 4, 2018 @ 15:15 GMT

AE