Symposium IV: The Economic Community of West African States in its Fifties – Looking Back, Look Forward - ECOWAS in the Next 50 Years: Advancing Regional Community Law through Digital Justice and Online Dispute Resolution
The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice occupies a central place in the legal architecture of West African regional integration, with jurisdiction spanning human rights, trade, and the interpretation and application of Community law. Yet its authority continues to sit uneasily with the persistent gap between judicial pronouncement and practical effect. Judgments are frequently delayed in implementation, and in many instances not implemented at all, a pattern widely reported by court officials and observers. If effectiveness is assessed primarily through implementation and compliance, the Court’s institutional challenge is therefore not merely one of doctrinal coherence, but of execution.