ECOWAS Court, Lawyers Call Member Countries to Ensure Enforcement of Judgments

The Head of Legal Services and Research at the Economic Community of West African States, Apraku Nketiah, has called on member countries to ensure prompt and comprehensive enforcement of the regional court’s judgments.

He said this would ensure adherence to the rule of law as well as bring about effective justice delivery in the region.

Nketiah noted that judgments in human rights cases are swiftly enforced to give succour to the victims.

He spoke at a two-day capacity-building seminar in Abuja on Friday.

The event was organised by the Pan African Lawyers’ Union to advance strategies for the implementation of decisions of regional courts in Africa.

Nketiah said, “Prompt and comprehensive enforcement of judgments of the court is an indication of the adherence to the rule of law and effective justice delivery in the region.

“All regional human rights mechanisms have expressed concern over ensuring that their views, decisions, and judgments are made effective and that remedies are afforded to the victims of human rights violations. ”

The Programme Officer, Pan African Lawyers’ Union, PraiseGod Joseph, said member countries must understand that the courts are their creations and they signed a treaty to abide by their decisions.

Joseph said, “The two-day seminar is about how we can push our member states towards the implementation of the decisions of regional courts. The first is for them to understand that these courts, they are the ones who accepted their jurisdiction and established them, knowing the importance of these courts. They must also know that these court provides binding decisions, so it is upon our state to implement them. ”

She said the union in the continent has embarked on several advocacy programmes to sensitize member countries on the need for the implementation of judgments.

“Also, one of the ways to ensure they implement the decisions is to provide advocacy about the decisions from these regional courts. We are also sensitizing our member states to know these decisions and also find initiatives towards implementing them,” Joseph stated.