As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice gears up for its international conference in Banjul, Gambia, one of the conference’s discussions will be an evaluation of the Community Court’s system for enforcing judgments.
The conference, with the theme “ECOWAS’ Zero Tolerance for Unconstitutional Change of Government” will hold between Monday 22nd to Thursday 25th of May 2023.
One of the sub themes of the conference is Appraisal of the Judgment Enforcement Mechanism of ECOWAS Court of Justice.
Issues for Consideration are the Judgment Enforcement Mechanism of ECOWAS Court of Justice, Challenges of the Judgment Enforcement Mechanism and how to strengthen the Judgment Enforcement Mechanism.
The President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Justice Edward Amoako Asante speaking in Abuja, Nigeria lamented over the non-enforcement of the court’s judgments, “the enforcement of its judgment remains its Achilles heels, in this regard, the court has a record that one hundred and six (106) of its judgment have not been enforced by member states while another eleven (11) are outstanding against ECOWAS institutions”.
However, Justice Amoako noted that the court has contributed immensely to the strengthening of some underpinnings of democracy such as respect for human rights and the protection of the freedom of expression by holding Member States accountable for their International Treaty obligations.
Participants in the conference will also look at how these issues relate to the rule of law, the obligation of Member States to respect, protect, and uphold human rights in their territories, the underlying causes of political unrest, terrorism, and insecurity in the region, the failure of Member States to uphold their obligations to ECOWAS, the frail institutional framework of Member States, as well as the lack of political will to carry out community obligations.
The role of the national courts of Member States and the ECOWAS Court of Justice in upholding and sustaining the rule of law are some other areas of focus. The Court’s mandate in facilitating the Community’s integration process and holding Member States accountable for their Treaty obligations is another.
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