Another argument raised by the Defendant is that the Plaintiff cannot claim any
form of "right to life" before the ECOWAS Court, particularly as a result of the
fact that the victims are "deceased". In its Notice of Preliminary Objection, the
Federal Republic of Nigeria submitted that: "Having acknowledged the fact that
the deceased persons were murdered, their (the deceased's) rights to life were
thus extinguished and are unenforceable by the Plaintiff or any other persons ...
And the Honourable Court will have no jurisdiction to entertain the suit."
Further,
in its written pleadings, the Federal Republic of Nigeria equally
contended that: "Since the Plaintiff maintain that the deceased were killed, the
aforesaid deceased's right to life is unenforceable. The Honourable Court cannot
enforce an unenforceable right."
The Defendant's reasoning thus tends to deny the heirs and close· relatives of
the "deceased" every right to bring any claim whatsoever before the Court,
notably in so far as it concerns "right to life."
Such view on the issue is inconsistent with the practice of several international
courts, before which the right of persons close to people considered "deceased"
or "disappeared", is well established. A number of international institutions may
be cited in that regard:
-
The UN Committee on Human Rights (Communication No. 1912/2009, Views
adopted by the Committee at its 106th Session, 15 October- 2 November
2012};
-
The Inter-American Court
of Human
Rights (Velasquez Rodriguez v.
Honduras, 29 July 1988};
European Court of Human Rights (Judgments on Kurt v. Turkey, 20 May 1998,
and Cakici v. Turkey, 8 July 1999}.
Before all these Courts, it is upheld that close relatives of "deceased" victims are
entitled to bringing such cases before court. The ECOWAS Court of Justice is
therefore quite surprised by the Defendant's argument that such a right may
only be claimed by such holders as are alive, and not dead. When it becomes
impossible for him whose right is violated to insist on that right or to seek
redress, either because he is deceased or prevented in one way or the other
7