Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger End Citizens’ Access to West African Regional Court
- By: Ilaria Allegrozzi | Senior Sahel Researcher
- Photo: West African leaders before an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, August 10, 2023. © 2023 Abraham Achirga/Reuter
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger officially left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on January 29, having served notice a year ago, raising concerns over access to justice for the victims of serious human rights abuses in those countries.
When announcing their plans to withdraw, the three military junta-led countries accused ECOWAS of “betraying its founding principles” and being “under the influence of foreign powers.” They also complained of illegal and illegitimate sanctions imposed on them while combating terrorism. Left unsaid was that the three juntas were facing increasing international condemnation for atrocities committed by their forces and the repression of democratic institutions.
Despite the countries’ departure, ECOWAS has pledged to keep its “doors open” and requested its member states continue to allow free movement and trade for everyone with an ECOWAS passport.
Since 2005, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has had jurisdiction to hear human rights cases brought by citizens of member states. It has issued landmark decisions on human rights issues, including in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. A unique feature of the court is that potential applicants do not need to exhaust local remedies before filing a complaint.
The countries’ withdrawal from ECOWAS will deprive their citizens of an important path for accountability and justice at a time when conflict-related abuses against civilians are rife in the Sahel region and access to national courts is increasingly limited. Malian, Nigerien, and Burkinabe authorities have made scant progress investigating, much less prosecuting, security forces, armed groups and others responsible for grave offenses committed during the ongoing armed conflicts in their territories.
“Since they came to power by force, these military governments have systematically failed to hold people responsible for egregious human rights abuses to account and have now reached a new low by preventing victims from seeking justice before the ECOWAS court,” a Malian political activist in exile in France told me last week. “This latest move only confirms their disregard for human rights and the rule of law.”
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger played an important role in creating the ECOWAS court and the juntas have now opted to curtail its reach rather than expand it. This will come at the cost of their own citizens’ access to justice.