For eight days , Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court of Justice) judges and officials discussed ways to address some challenges hindering it’s operations. ERIC IKHILAE reports.
Impelled by the need to curb delay in the handling of cases brought before their court, judges and officials of the Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court, met last week for eight days to fine-tune ways of enhancing the court’s capacity, including the effective implementation of its planned case management system.
From the “8th judges’ retreat” that held between June 30 and July 2, through the “11th judicial retreat,” held from July 2 to 7, discussions were all directed at ways of evolving more efficient and robust operational methodologies, driven solely by the ultimate aim of ensuring prompt dispensation of justice.
Held under the theme: “Improving the case management system of the court,” participants closely examined the laws and rules under which the court operates; stressed the need for new working instruments, while identifying inherent inadequacies in existing rules of court, its operational guidelines and more.
The court’s President, Justice Edward Asante said the gathering was meant to improve on the court’s case management system, “which determines the speed of processing and management of cases, so as to adopt measures and clear guidelines that will assist those involved in the management of cases in the effective discharge of their functions.”
Justice Asante noted for example, that the court’s rules were old and needed amendment, having been made when the court was an inter-state court (when only member states could bring cases before the court.).
He added that, since the adoption of the 2005 Supplementary Protocol, which amended the 1991 Original Protocol on the court, which broadened the court’s jurisdiction to, among others, allow individuals and corporate bodies to also bring cases, the rules have not been amended.
Justice Asante also identified the challenge of the inadequacy of tenure of the court’s judges, which is four years. He said the court intends take the issue before the relevant agencies of ECOWAS to ensure an amendment.
“Before a newly appointed judge settles down, six months are gone. And, you can also not take new cases six months to the end of your tenure, you can only deliver judgments. So, effectively, judges have only three years to work. But when the tenure is seven years, as it is the case in most international and regional courts, they have enough time to build the jurisprudence of the court to make it strong and stable,” Justice Asnate said.
Beside the suggested solutions to the identified inadequacies in the laws and rules, participants also examined administrative issues, particularly ways of ensuring seamless collaborations among the different departments of the court with a view to ensuring the effective application of the. case management system.
The issue of how to ensure access to the court’s services by indigent applicants, particularly the grassroots, was also examined, with participants agreeing to constitute a committee to work the modalities for its realisation.
One of the five judges and the only Nigerian on the court’s bench, Justice Dupe Atoki said “one of the areas we deliberated on was on how to provide legal aid to indigent applicants, because we know that low income earners usually suffer rights violations and may not have the necessary financial strength to support their complaint at the court.
“For us to endure that justice gets to those at the grassroots, we have setup a committee to work out the modalities for realisaing the court’s objective of providing legal assistance to those, who cannot afford it.
Justice Atoki said the committee has been mandated to report back in December this year to enable the court take the necessary steps to formalise the initiative and determine the source funds needed to support the lawyers, who will be representing the indigent applicants and how to access such funds.
She added: “The plan is that we will engage lawyers to handle these cases and we will pay them. The committee will decide what lawyers, to be engaged, will be paid. It will work the benchmark to be adopted.”
The Registrar, Tony Anene-Maidoh gave a lucid and direct perspective to the essence of the gathering when, in his presentation, he drew participants’ attention to the fact that it was imperative that the court’s rules be amended in the light of the various modifications to the court’s status and jurisdiction over the years.
Anene-Maidoh recalled that the court was initially conceived as an inter-state court, and that the 1991 Protocol on the court and the Rules of Procedure were adopted before direct access to the court was granted to individuals in respect of certain causes of action.
“No corresponding or consequential amendment has been made to the basic texts of the court to take into account the direct access that individuals and corporate bodies now have. Furthermore, the Rules of Procedures and the other basic texts of the court do not provide sufficient clarity.
“In some other instances, gaps have been observed in these texts. For instance, the Rules of Procedure do not provide the method for Closing the written procedure. In any court system, speedy administration of justice is of cardinal importance because justice delayed is justice denied.
“A court cannot achieve its goal of speedy administration of justice without an efficient case management system. An efficient system pays attention to efficient processing of applications, compliance with legal framework, transmission and notification of processes, scheduling, certainty of hearing dates, speedy trial and delay reduction measures.
“Therefore, all the activities that take place between the filing and final deposition of a case deserve special consideration.”
Anene-Maidoh stressed the importance of the human element to the success of the innovations being suggested, noting that there was need for the court’s personnel involved in case management, particularly those in the Registry, to be provided clear guidelines that do not leave room for ambiguities, in respect of the roles they ought to play within the context of the case management system. Being planned.
He added: “They must be held accountable on the basis of a clearly defined template or manual. The system must also guarantee efficient collaboration between the Registry and the offices of the honorable judges, particularly the Judge Rapporteur, the Language Services division and the Research Department.
“It is also necessary to clarify the specific role of the Judge Rapporteur in the written and oral procedure and spell out the modalities for closing the written procedure.
“In one word, we are asking for clarity. It is against this background that this case management workshop is situated. It therefore offers us an excellent opportunity to articulate a case management system for the ECOWAS Court of Justice,” Anene-Maidoh said.
While addressing the closing session on July 6, 2019, the court’s Vice President,
Justice Gberi-Be Ouattara stressed the need for collaboration, cooperation and peaceful coexistence among the court’s staff to enable it achieve its set goals when the court resumes, in mid-September, from its annual vacation, for a new legal year.
“Let us always speak with one voice, believing that we are one family. We need to support one another, and to love each other and work together. You should be committed to your duties,” Justice Ouattara said.
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