human rights, shall we also deny them capacity and standing to prosecute this claim. We think not. b. The next issue for determination in this objection is whether the facts put forward by the Applicants disclose any cause of action. A cause of action can be defined as a matter for which an action can be brought, a legal right predicated on facts upon which an action may be sustained. It is the right to bring a suit based on factual situations disclosing the existence of a legal right. It is often used to signify the subject matter of a complaint or claim on which a given action or suit is grounded whether or not legally maintainable. In law, a cause of action is a set of facts, a combination of facts giving rise to a claim or this right to sue. The ground for this action is the alleged violation of the Applicants’ human rights. The Applicants have alleged that they were shot at, by the agents of the 1st Defendant which resulted to injury to the 2nd to the 12th Applicants and the death of the persons named and represented by the 1 st Applicant as suing on behalf of the relatives of the deceased. It is trite law that whether a cause of action exists or not, can only be gathered from the statement of claim and not defense. A cause of action of course can be extinguished by effluxion of time. This is usually provided for by statute, see for example Article 9(3) of the Supplementary Protocol of the ECOWAS Court of Justice 2005. The Applicants have alleged violation of their human rights. The Jurisdiction of this Court in relation to human rights is predicated on Article 9 of Supplementary Protocol A/ S P. 1/01/05 provides as follows: “The Court shall has Jurisdiction to determine cases of violation of human rights that occur in any member State”. The Plaintiffs have alleged the violation of their various rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and this raises a fundamental issue of violation of human rights against the 1st Defendant and this is sufficient cause of action. Although the Applicants have a cause of action, this does not automatically tantamount to proof of the allegations contained in the Application. 18