Rabat- The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has dismissed the lawsuit of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) challenging Morocco’s bid to become a member of the regional organization.
On Wednesday, the information unit of the court issued a statement arguing that the case was inadmissible since the NGO did not have the right to bring the case before the court.
According to the statement, Gberi-Be Ouattara, the ECOWAS court’s judge-rapporteur, dismissed the lawsuit on the ground that it contradicted Article 10 (b) of the ECOWAS charter.
During the meeting of ECOWAS heads of government in Liberia in 2016, West African leaders ratified the membership request of Morocco.
In July 2018, CDHR challenged the decision at the ECOWAS Court citing, among other reasons, Morocco’s geographic location as grounds for its non-eligibility.
According to the court, the plaintiff’s arguments centered on the respondents’ alleged incompetence to admit Morocco as a member state of the 15-member ECOWAS.
The Court said it dismissed the NGO’s application because it does not have the legal capacity to bring such a matter before the court.
To be able to bring a case before the ECOWAS court, the plaintiff must either be a member state of the organization or be a member of the ECOWAS Commission or Council of Ministers, the court recalled.
It also ruled that the NOG’s argument about Morocco’s geographical location had no impact on the country’s eligibility for membership.
ECOWAS lawyer, Franck Chude, cited Mauritania as an example. He said that although it is geographically outside ECOWAS, it was a part of the community until 2000 when it decided to leave the organization.
He added that some ECOWAS member states were not democratic; they were under military rule at the time the ECOWAS Revised Treaty was adopted.
The court handed down its judgment at its current external session in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
