The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice as part of efforts to achieve the ECOWAS Vision 2020 of making citizens the fulcrum of the community embarked on a sensitization mission for its stakeholders in Ghana from December 17 to 20, 2018.
Speaking at a forum held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Tuesday, December 18, 2018, the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Edward Amoako Asante said the sensitization mission by the Court was aimed at strengthening the consciousness of citizens of their human rights entitlement as well as informing them about the avenue provided by the Court to remedy the violation of such rights.
Hon. Justice Amoako Asante said engagements with specific groups within the country, whose professional responsibility impinge on the effectiveness of the Court in the exercise of its four-fold mandate as a Community Court, an ECOWAS Public Service Court, a Human Rights Court and an Arbitration Tribunal was very important. He informed that the team from the Court engaged with various groups such as lawyers, students, journalists, the judiciary and other stakeholders to acquaint them with the Court in order to improve access to citizens, make the Court real in their lives and prevent the court from being perceived as a remote institution irrelevant to their existence.
Hon. Justice Amoako Asante said “the timing of this campaign, coming a few days after the observance of the International Human Rights day on December 10, 2018 and 70 years after the United Nations General Assembly adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is particularly poignant in the context of the Court’s human rights mandate”.
He commended Ghana for her human rights credentials, which has been reinforced by the establishment of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and added that it was impressive.
In his remarks, the of the Director Africa and Regional Integration Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mr. Harold Agyeman said the Ministry had the responsibility for developing, coordinating, managing and implementing Ghana’s the regional policy and strategies and was happy to collaborate with the ECOWAS Court of Justice for its four day sensitization mission with key stakeholders in Ghana.
He added that, the ECOWAS Court of Justice was important in deepening the regional integration agenda within the West Africa sub region and the sensitization mission would enable the court to fulfil its mandate in the service of the community.