The Role of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in the Integration of West Africa: Small Strides in the Wrong Direction?

Abstract

Based on popular accounts of the experience of European integration, particularly the role an audacious European Court Justice (ECJ) played in driving integration in the early days through judicial-activism, judicial organs of integration communities are increasingly under pressure of expectation to take on roles that should significantly shape the direction of their respective communities. The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) is one judicial organ that struggles under such a burden of expectation. While the ECCJ has been active in protecting human rights in recent times, most observers will conclude that it has not impacted integration in West Africa anywhere near as much as the ECJ has impacted on European integration. For some, by its growing involvement in human rights adjudication, the ECCJ may well have taken on a role that sends it in the wrong impact direction. The chapter argues that properly applied, the human rights competence of the ECCJ gives the Court an important role with a potentially huge impact on ECOWAS integration that is not sufficiently understood and appreciated.