“As a general rule, jurisdiction is inferred from the Plaintiff's claim and in
deciding whether or not the Court has Jurisdiction to entertain the present action
reliance has to be placed on the facts as presented by the Plaintiff”
The jurisdiction of this court is provided
for under Article 9(4) of the 2005
Protocol of the Court as amended. The said Article 9(4) provides as follows:
“The Court has jurisdiction to determine cases of violation of human rights that
occur in any Member State”
The above Article 9(4) of the Supplementary Protocol A/SP.1/01/05 amending
the Protocol A/P1/7/91 relating
to the Community Court of Justice relates to the
subject matter jurisdiction of the Court.
In terms of Access to the Court, Article 10(d) of the same Supplementary
Protocol provides that access to the court is open to the following:
“Individuals on application for relief for violation of their human rights; the
submission of application for which shall:
i.
ii.
Not be anonymous
Be made
whilst the same matter has been instituted before another
International Court for adjudication”.
For a court to assume jurisdiction over any matter, it must satisfy itself that it
has the competence as regards the subject matter, the parties before it and even
over the reliefs being sought.
In the instant case, firstly, the subject matter of this proceeding is provided for
in paragraph 3.0 of the Applicant's application. The applicant in summary is
alleging violation of the right to education and freedom from discrimination of
pregnant adolescent school girls in Sierra Leone contrary to Articles 1, 2 and
2