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pruiicu1ar transaction that disputes arising out of that transaction shall be settled by
the Court, or alliteratively, in proceedings for 1he determination of an act or
omission of a Communi1)1 official which violates their rights and no more. In the
instant case, plaintiff is trying to access the Court for the determination of a11
alleged breach of fundamental human rights. This is not a11 action against any
Community official. The defendant is a member state, and officials and agents
working for her are not Community officials within the meaning of Article 10(c) of
the amended Protocol. For the same reason, the defendant could not be brought
under Article I O(c) in respect of the allegation that the actions of the defendant's
agents, including the Port Commanda11t, led to the loss of the vessel.
48. Article 10 (d) of the Protocol on the Court specifically governs the 1ight of
access to the Court in human right violation applications. Article 10 (d) reads in
part thus:
Access to the Court is open to the following:
(d) individuals on application for relief for violation of their human rights;
It is noteworthy that whilst Article 10 (c) gave a 1ight of access to individuals and
c01porate bodies, Article 10 (d) gave the -right of access in human rights violation
causes to only individuals.
49. That leads the Com1to find out the meaning of individuals within the context
of Article 10 of the Protocol. The court thinks 'individuals' within the context of
•
I
Article I 0 of the Protocol refers to only human beings and no more. This is so
because Article 10 (c) mentioned individuals and c01porate bodies. Vi7hat that
means is that the legislation sought to distinguish between hm11an beings and other
legal entities.
50. Thus, by expressly g1vmg access to only individuals, the Supplementary
Protocol sought to give that light exclusively to individual human beings who are
victims of human rights abuse to the exclusion of all others. The fact that human
rights, by its 1very nomenclature, is human-centred, finds expression from the
Preamble to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Black's
Law Dictionary, 9th Edition at page 809. The defence counsel's submissions on this
point set out in paragraphs 28, 29 and 30 above, rue· apt and germane and are
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