Young Experts from West African States Visit ECOWAS Court

A 22-member delegation of young experts from ECOWAS Member States visited the ECOWAS Court on the 15^th of August 2019 to acquaint themselves with the activities of the Court as part of the annual “Get to Know ECOWAS” training Programme of the German Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

The weeklong programme brings together young experts from ECOWAS Member States in order to train and expose them to the roles, objectives, organizational structures, programmes, activities and various projects of the ECOWAS Community, including the Commission, Institutions and Agencies.

They were received by a staff of the Registry, Mr. Yusuf Danmadami, who conveyed the compliments of the President and Members of the Court who were unavoidably absent because of the Court’s vacation. He then gave them an overview of the Court and its activities, and that culminated in the presentation on the proposed topic: The Role of the Court in Implementing Security Sector Reform/Governance in Member States at the request of FES.

Mr. Danmadami also lauded the FES initiative and urged the foundation and the young experts to continue to collaborate with the Court and to support it through the creation of awareness about its activities, advocating for the implementation of its judgments and review of the number and tenure of the Honourable Judges of the Court.

The number of the judges were reduced from seven to five last year while their tenure was reduced from the initial five years renewable to four nonrenewable.

In response, Ms. Juliana Anosike, Programme Officer of the foundation who led the delegation, expressed the gratitude of the foundation and the young experts for the insightful presentation which enriched their understanding of the Court.

Also present to receive the delegation were Ms. Elohor Ovadje, Information Officer of the Court and a Courtroom Assistant.