Jurisdictional Competence of Courts and Contradictions in the ECOWAS Legal Order: Seeking Broader Access and Rights of Establishment

Abstract

 A fundamental contradiction within the ECOWAS legal order is that individuals,
who are key drivers of regional integration, lack the legal standing to access the
ECOWAS Court of Justice to enforce their establishment rights. But as it currently
stands, and by implication, a corporate body cannot rely on the provisions of the
ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol, particularly article 10(d), to litigate any
violation against its right of establishment. Although the ECOWAS Court’s
jurisdiction was expanded in 2005, individuals still lack the means to enforce their
establishment rights. Against this background, however, this study challenges the
position of ECOWAS in this regard by investigating whether any other means of
protection are available to ECOWAS citizens (including corporations) who may
venture into another ECOWAS State for establishment. This study adopts a
comparative approach to examine the East African Community framework’s
stance on the protection of individuals’economic rights within its jurisdiction. The
study concludes that Community citizens should have broader access to the
ECOWAS Court to enforce establishment rights.