brought against them are still pending before the Respondent's Courts and they
have not been provided with legal aid to pursue the pending cases.
iv. Jurisdiction ratione loci
67. With respect to jurisdiction ratione loci. which has also not been challenged, the
Court is of the view that since the alleged violation occurred within the territory of the
Respondent, the Court has jurisdiction.
68. Having established that it has jurisdiction to examine the Application, the Court will
now proceed to consider the Respondent's preliminary objections on the
admissibility of this Application.
VIII.
Admissibility of the Application
69. In its Response to the Application, the Respondent avers that, "in the alternative but without
prejudice to ... " its preliminary objections on the jurisdiction of the Court, it was objecting to
the admissibility of the Application on four (4) grounds, namely:
i.
That the Application is incompatible with the Charter of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) or with the present
Charter as per Rule 40(2) of the Rules of the Court,
ii.
That the Applicants failed to exhaust local remedies as per
Rule 40 (5) of the Rules;
iii.
That the Application was not submitted within a reasonable
time from the time local remedies were exhausted as per Rule
40 (6) of the Rules; and
iv.
That the Application does not comply with Rule 34(1) of the
Rules as it is not signed by the Applicant or his/her
representatives.
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