are not direct victims, can be found in Rule 33, Section 1,
i
I
-
paragraph (d) of the African Court on Hun1an and Peoples'
Rights Rules.
61. With the same purpose to ease access to Justice on Human
Rights issues by the most vulnerable individuals and by
impoverished
communities,
have means . to
lodge
which, most of time, do not
a complaint
by
themselves,
in
particular when the opposite party is a very powerful entity,
the ECOWAS
Court of Justice has reiterated in many
instances that, in case of serious human rights violation, a
Non-Governmental Organization may enjoy standing to file
a complaint on their behalf or to join them in the same
_,
. ------i""'''"·'·'"..
complaint, even if the applicant has not been directly
-·
v·r
affected by the violations it is complaining of. See this
Court's decision
in Registered
Trustees
of the Socio-
Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP) V. The
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & 8 Ors.
62. In the light of the above, the objection on the standing of
-
the plaintiffs cannot therefore be sustained.