ECOWAS Member States have been challenged to work for the integration of the region’s legal and judicial systems in order to create a common legal environment that improves access to justice for the citizens.
These systems should promote the defence of citizen’s human rights and contribute to the strengthening of the region’s burgeoning democracy.
A statement issued by the ECOWAS Commission and made available to the Ghana News Agency said the call was made by the President of the ECOWAS Community Court, Justice Maria do Céu Silva Monteiro at the closing of a week long external session of Court in Abidjan last weekend.
Justice Silva Monteiro emphasised the primacy of such integration to the realisation of the objectives of Article 57 of the ECOWAS Treaty, the organisation’s founding document.
‘We need to deepen collaboration among our judicial systems as a precursor to such integration whose value was further acknowledged through the commitments made by Member States in the regional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance,’ the president said.
She stressed the importance of the observance of the rule of law to the emergence of a stable and peaceful political environment that is conducive to the realisation of the objectives of the community and which could only be guaranteed by the courts.
The president praised the ‘highly successful’ external session in the country as part of the process of consolidating the jurisprudence of the court, bringing it closer to the citizens and sensitizing them on its mandate, jurisprudence and role.
Justice Silva Monteiro urged ‘the high authorities of Cote d’Ivoire’ to discharge its Treaty obligations by designating the country’s focal point for the implementation of the decisions of the court as required under Article 24 of the Protocol on the Court.
The Article requires Member States to ‘determine the competent national authority for the purpose of the receipt and processing of execution and to notify the Court accordingly.’
Only three Member States- Mali, Nigeria and Togo- have communicated their focal points to the court in the spirit of the Protocol.
In her closing comments, the first Vice President of the Supreme Court of Cote d’Ivoire, Madam Camara Chantal applauded the court for the honour to the country by allowing it to host this year’s external court session and last week’s inauguration of the West African Jurists Association during which one of its citizens was elected as interim President.
Seventeen cases pending before the court was handled during the weeklong court session. Judgements were delivered in four of the cases; eight were adjourned for judgement at the seat of the court; two were adjourned for ruling while two applications for the revision of the decisions of the court were rejected.
The remaining case was adjourned for continuation of hearing in Abuja on May 17, 2016.
Source: GNA
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