20. In the instant case, the Respondent State raises two objections to
jurisdiction, namely, personal jurisdiction and temporal jurisdiction. The
Court will rule on the two objections before considering other aspects of its
jurisdiction, if necessary.
A. Objection to personal jurisdiction
21. The Respondent State contends that, in principle, the adverse party is
committed to the proceedings only after the Application has been notified to
it. It is the Respondent State’s contention that it was served the present
Application on 11 April 2022, more than eleven (11) months after the
effective date of withdrawal of its Declaration by virtue of which it accepted
the jurisdiction of the Court to receive applications from individuals and
NGOs having observer status with the Commission. The Respondent State
asserts that, in these circumstances, it is not involved in the present
proceedings and prays the Court to find that it does not have personal
jurisdiction to hear this Application.
22. The Applicants did not respond to this objection.
***
23. The Court notes that it has ruled that the withdrawal of the Declaration
deposited by the Respondent State under Article 34(6) of the Protocol has
no bearing on matters pending before it and on new cases filed prior to the
effective date of the withdrawal, which is one year after its filing, that is, on
30 April 2021.3
24. The Court recalls that, as it has also held, “the time-limit of 30 April 2021
only relates to the date of filing of an application before it” and therefore its
personal jurisdiction is established whenever an application was filed at its
3
Suy Bi Gohore and 3 Others v. Côte d'Ivoire, supra, 67.
7