Law, GA Res 60/147, pmbl, Sec IX, UN Doc A/RES/60/147 (March 21, 2006) which
defines it as:
“…anyone who suffers individual or collective harm (or pain) such as
physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss, or
generally any impairment of human rights as a result of acts or omissions
that constitute gross violations of human rights, or serious violations of
humanitarian law norms.”
The European Court of Human Rights also proffered the definition of victim/s, in the
case of GROPPERA RADIO AG and others v SWITZERLAND (1990) Application
No. 10890/84, as:
“By ‘victim’, Article 25 (1) means the person directly affected by the act
or omission which is in issue.”
The Community Court of Justice (CCJ) has also in its jurisprudence a definition of
victim put forward in the case of AZIAGBEDE KOKOU & 68 Ors . V REPUBLIC OF
TOGO (2013) ECW/CCJ/JUD/07/13 @ Page 175 par 24 where it held that:
“To claim to be a victim, there must exist a sufficient direct link between
an applicant and the prejudice he deems to have suffered as a result of
the alleged violation.”
The CCJ in the case of ODAFE OSARADA v ECOWAS COUNCIL OF MINISTERS,
ECOWAS PARLIAMENT & ECOWAS COMMISSION (2008) ECW/CCJ/JUD/01/08
@ 27 held that:
“Generally, and from a legal standpoint the necessity for an Applicant to
provide justification of interest in a case is attested by the adage that
‘where there is an interest, there is an action’ and also ‘an interest is the
measuring rod for an action’. In other words, an application is admissible
only when the applicant justifies that he brings a case before a judge for
the purposes of protecting an interest or defending an infringement of
such. Such an interest must be direct, personal and certain.”
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