11 urged ti1e Court to order plaintiff to bear the costs incurred in these proceedings, including travel expenses of defendant's delegation since 2008 and asked for One Hundred Million CFA Francs (1 00,000,000 FCFA) pursuant to Article 66 of the Court's Rules. Issues 35. Relying on Article 87(5) of its Rules, the court reserved its decision in the preliminary application for the final judgment. The court will accordingly decide the prelii1linary issues first and then decide on the merits of the only issues raised by the application, those of denial of a right to fair hearing before the comi:s of Senegal and defendant's alleged sale or role in the sale of the vessel. Analysis by the court 36. The defendant argued that the Court should not entertain the plaintiff's application because it had not exhausted the local remedies available to it before approaching it. Plaintiff responded by saying that under the laws setting up this Court and its Rules, the exhaustion of local remedies is not a condition precedent for initiating actions before it and therefore the application was properly filed. 37. The court thinks a brief historical perspective into the issue of the exhaustion of local remedies will help in setting the record straight once and for all. The original Protocol' on the Comi of Justice (A/Pl/7/91) did not grant individuals direct access to this Court. However, the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (A/SPl/12/01) by its Article 39 indicated that the Protocol on the Court of Justice (A/Pl/7/91) would be an1ended to give the Court jurisdiction over humru1 rights violations claims after exhaustion of local remedies. Article 39 of the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance states thus: Protocol A/PJ /7/91 adopted in Abuja on 6 July, 1991 relating to the Community Court of Justice, shall be reviewed so as to give the Court the power to hear, inter alia, cases relating to violations of human rights, after all attempts to settle the matter at the national level have failed 38. The Protocol on the Court was amended by the Supplementary Protocol (A/SP.1/01/05) whereby the Court was granted human rights jurisdiction by Article 11