Abstract
The ECOWAS community Court of Justice (ECCJ) is a creation of the member states of the ECOWAS Community via its establishment protocol of 1991. It was originally established to ensure the observance of law and the principles of equity in the interpretation and application of the provisions of the ECOWAS Treaty, and to deal with disputes referred to it in accordance with the provisions of Article 56 of the Treaty. This paper examined the concept of human rights and jurisdiction within the context of the establishment protocol of the court and the ECOWAS Treaty. This is against the backdrop of the existing legal and institutional framework (both regional and international) that reinforces the court’s mandate. The paper identified some conflicts in the decisions of the court regarding its competence, highlighting them to show how they impact on the determination of the court’s jurisdiction. It further examined the constraints to the realization of the court’s mandate by its narrow interpretation of Article 9(3) of the Supplementary Protocol which imbues it with the jurisdiction to determine human rights violation in the community. The author made case for the liberal interpretation of the community texts and protocol towards expansion of the court’s competence to include every shade of human rights violation. The author thereby recommended that the areas of the court’s competence in its human rights jurisdiction be defined with certainty and exactitude by a protocol that would crystallize the components of the court’s jurisdiction, and pointed out the danger of leaving it to judicial discretion.
