17(1) of the ACHPR, Articles 1, 3, 4, 11 and 24 of the African Charter on the Rights
and Welfare of the Child amongst others.
The rights provided for and guaranteed under those provisions are clearly
human rights of which the court has in a plethora of cases maintained its
competence
to
adjudicate
upon.
See
BAKARRY
SARRE
&
28
ORS
v.
MALI
(supra).
Secondly as regards access to the Court or who can be a party before the Court,
Article 10(d) is clear as to individual victims for violations of human rights. The
Court has also in a plethora of cases allowed legally recognised NGOs to bring
action on behalf
of victims of human rights violations. See the cases of SERAP v.
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA & ANOR Suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/12/07, MEDIA
FOUNDATION FOR WEST AFRICA v. REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA Suit No.
ECW/CCI/APP/15/1.
The application before this Court is brought by the Applicant, Women against
Violence and Exploitation in Society (WAVES), a non-governmental organisation,
on behalf of pregnant adolescent school girls in Sierra Leone.
The Applicant is a legally recognised Non-Governmental Organisation and is
maintaining this action on behalfof a section of the community in Sierra Leone
whose right to education the Applicant believes is being violated; it is therefore
maintaining this action in the public interest. The Respondent, on the other hand
is saying that the actual victims of the alleged violation have not been joined as
parties to the suit and therefore contends that the Applicant lacks sufficient
interest to litigate this action.
In considering the facts of the application and underscoring the primacy of
human rights, the Court is obligated to interrogate the aspect of public interest
B