ECOWAS Court President seeks member states’ cooperation to enforce judgements

ECOWAS Court President Justice Ricardo Gonçalves has appealed to the governments of ECOWAS subordinate states to afloat recognise the court’s authorization and cooperate with it successful enforcing the court’s judgements.

He made the entreaty portion declaring unfastened the ECOWAS Court’s 2025/2026 Legal Year celebration, with the taxable “ECOWAS Court and International Law: Expanding Access and Navigating Contemporary Challenges”, connected Thursday successful Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the yearly lawsuit is usually held to people the commencement of a caller ineligible twelvemonth and supply an accidental to bespeak connected the court’s achievements, challenges, and aboriginal prospects.

It besides serves arsenic a forum for dialog with stakeholders, similar different ECOWAS institutions, subordinate states, nationalist courts, barroom associations, academics, civilian nine and improvement partners, to illustration the mode forward.

The Community Court’s President, portion noting that lone astir 30 per cent of the court’s judgements had been enforced, decried that the non-enforcement of judgements was the court’s formidable challenge.

“Some of the difficulties that we person encountered relating to the jurisdiction of the tribunal see the persistence of non-enforcement of the court’s judgements.

“Now, you see, our processes should not conscionable extremity successful the presumption of an exertion to the tribunal and a verdict delivered, but each this indispensable construe into not conscionable the substance that regulates.

“Indeed, what credibility would a tribunal person if their decisions were not enforced? It is lone connected this information that the citizens of the assemblage and the wide nationalist volition proceed to judge successful this court,” helium said.

According to him, assemblage citizens, who sometimes travel from acold and wide to question for justness to beryllium done to them, merit to spot decisions enforced successful bully religion and timely.

Gonçalves, therefore, appealed to the medication of the assemblage institutions to proceed honouring their commitments by afloat recognising the authorization of the tribunal and enforcing its decisions.

He said that, notwithstanding the court’s different challenges, specified arsenic fiscal constraints, similar different assemblage institutions, it recorded singular milestones the erstwhile year.

The president explained that implicit the past year, the tribunal registered 34 caller cases, held a full of 79 tribunal sessions, and delivered 54 judgements, with 112 cases pending.

Another milestone, helium said, was the court’s adoption of an innovative physics absorption of cases and the holding of unafraid virtual hearings, which strengthens entree to justness and reduces geographical and logistical constraints.

He said that the tribunal besides held a maiden variation of its Moot Court contention for assemblage instrumentality students successful Nigeria that would aboriginal beryllium expanded to different institutions crossed the sub-region.

Gonçalves stressed that, going forward, 1 precedence that would usher the court’s enactment successful the caller ineligible twelvemonth would beryllium the enlargement of entree to justness done the implementation of the physics lawsuit absorption system.

The second, helium said, would beryllium to summation collaboration with nationalist courts, nonrecreational associations, and civilian nine organisations to code challenges and grow entree to justice.

“Efficiency, transparency, and accountability volition stay astatine the bosom of our concerns,” helium added.

Dr Omar Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, said that expanding entree to justness for each wrong the sub-region remained a apical priority, and it indispensable transcend borders, connection barriers and socio-economic differences.

He described the ECOWAS Court arsenic an indispensable pillar successful determination integration architecture, ensuring that the rights of our citizens were protected and subordinate states adhered to the principles binding them together.

Touray pledged the commission’s unwavering enactment to the court, adding that helium would enactment tirelessly with subordinate states, civilian nine and each stakeholders to heighten the court’s capableness and visibility.

“With respect to the resourcing of the Court, I americium gladsome to study that the Commission is moving intimately with the Chair of the Council to marque further fiscal resources disposable to the Court,” helium said.

Touray appealed to subordinate states to springiness precedence to compliance with and the enforcement of the court’s rulings to execute an integrated West Africa, wherever the regularisation of instrumentality prevails.

The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Memounatou Ibrahima, described the ECOWAS Court arsenic an indispensable spouse successful the large task of bui...