the latter alleged the violation of the right to quality education, right to dignity
amongst others guaranteed by Articles 1, 2, 17, 21 and 22 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ rights ruled thus:
“It is a well-established principle of law that jurisdiction is a creature of
statute. The statute that spells out the jurisdiction of this Court is the
Supplementary Protocol on the Court of Justice, specifically Article 9
thereof. For this Court to have subject-matter jurisdiction over the suit as
instituted by the Plaintiff, the subject-matter of the suit must fall within the
confines of Article 9 of the Supplementary Protocol of the Court. Under
Article 9 (4) of the Supplementary Protocol, the Court clearly has
jurisdiction to adjudicate on applications concerning the violation of human
rights that occur in Member States of ECOWAS.”
48. In the instant case, the Applicants allege violation of their human rights to fair
hearing and fair trial; equality before the law and non-discrimination; privacy and
work as guaranteed by various provisions of the UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR and the
ACHPR all of which are treaties ratified and domesticated by the Respondent
through provisions in the 1992 Constitution and other statutes. The Court in a
plethora of case law has held that mere allegation of human rights violation is
sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the Court. In His Excellency Vice-President
Alhaji Samuel Sam-Sumana v. Republic of Sierra Leone.-SUIT NO:
ECW/CCJ/APP/38/16 and JUD NO: ECW/CCJ/JUD/19/17, the Court held that:
“Indeed allegations of violations of human rights by an Applicant is
sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court. This is distinct from the
issues of the veracity of the allegation(s).”
The Court equally reaffirmed its consistently held case laws that:
“The mere invocation of violation of human rights as falling within the
sphere of competence of the Court is sufficient to establish the jurisdiction
of the Court and that once human rights violation constituting international
or community obligations of member states are brought against any
member state, the Court declares its jurisdiction to examine such violation.”
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