checking of the situation in each country, the submission of periodic reports as provided for by certain international instruments, including Article 62 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which provides: "Each state party shall undertake to submit every two years, from the date the present Charter comes into force, a report on the legislative or other measures taken with a view to giving effect to the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed by the present Charter". 61. In this regard, the Court finds that such considerations have already taken place, notably before the Human Rights Committee and the Children's Rights Committee of the United Nations, particularly in regard to the Republic of Niger, followed by Recommendations. Consequently, the Court declares that it cannot overstep the bounds of its core jurisdiction, which is that of entertaining concrete cases of human rights violation and sanctioning such where necessary. As to Discrimination 62. The Applicant maintained that she was a victim of sexually and socially based discrimination, in violation of Articles 2 and 18 (3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights; she further stated that she did not benefit from equal protection of the law and equality before the law as provided for by Article 3 of the said charter. She made it clear that the system of 'sadaka' or the act of selling a woman to a man to serve as a concubine for him, is a practice exclusively affecting women and thus constitutes a form of discrimination based on sex; that, moreover, the fact that she was not in a position to freely give her consent to marry or to divorce do bear ample testimony of discrimination in relation to her social origin. 63. The following statement comes from the testimony of Djouldé Laya, a sociologist, and it was cited by the Defendant during the court session of 8 April 2008 at Niamey: "In the case of the 'wahiya' woman, one does not say that she is emancipated, since she is a slave. Therefore, she is someone else's property; ... the 'wahiya' system or 'fifth wife' is a system which was put in place by the advocates and practitioners of slavery; ... I consider that women are not emancipated from their 'wahiya' condition; ... it is a system which permits the movement of a woman from one status to another, meaning that the slavery condition continues, in any case, because women still have to be captured, war must be fought, one has to buy". 64. After a careful consideration of all the pleas-in-law of the Applicant, drawn from discrimination, equality before the law, and equal protection by the law, the Court finds that, as pointed out by Frédéric Sudre, on page 259 of his work Le Droit International et Européen des Droits de l'Homme (2005 edition), "The principle of non-discrimination is a principle drawn from the general postulate according to which all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (cf. Article 1 × All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). It is this principle which helps to define the domain of equality. 65. According to the texts cited by the Applicant, every form of discrimination based on race, ethnic group, sex, religion, and social origin, is forbidden, and constitutes a human rights violation recognised by the various Constitutions of the Republic of Niger (1989, 1992 and 1996) and by the provisions of the Penal Code of Niger, which enshrines the same protective principles. 66. In the instant case, to determine if the Applicant has been discriminated against or not, it is worthwhile to take a close look at the practice of 'wahiya' or 'sadaka' as described by the Witnesses, in order to know whether, on one hand, all women have the same rights in respect of marriage, and whether, on the other hand, men and women have the same capacities of enjoying the rights and freedoms proclaimed in the international instruments ratified by the Defendant. Indeed, Halilou Danda, a farmer and livestock breeder, Witness called by the Applicant, declared during the hearing of Monday, 7 April 2008 that: "The préfet (district administrative officer) summoned us to his office to tell us that he had received a paper from Niamey which says that we should hand over El Hadj Souleymane Naroua's wife back to him. The préfet asked him: - Would you like to remarry her, since you have emancipated her? If so, bring cola and let us perform the marriage ceremony. El Hadj Souleymane Naroua said - No! I cannot marry her, since it is God who has already given her to me." 67. Besides, Almou Wangara, farmer and Witness called by the Applicant, declared that: "When the former master of Hadijatou was asked to bring the dowry, he said that it was God who gave him the woman and so how could we be asking him for money as payment for dowry? The préfet told the former master: - Since you have already emancipated this woman, what is appropriate to be done is to provide the dowry; we are 8