Abstract
State responsibility for human rights violations by private individuals as well as the cataloguing of domestic violence as a human rights violation in international law are emerging concepts being filtered through regional and international courts, quasi-judicial and treaty-monitoring bodies. These judicial and quasi-judicial bodies delineate a framework for determining state obligations with regard to domestic violence under international human rights law through the due diligence standard. The Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice in 2018 had its first opportunity to offer insights into its jurisprudence regarding state responsibility for domestic violence in international law. This article contributes to the dialogue on the standard for state responsibility together with the forms of domestic violence acts that are appropriate to warrant intervention from an African perspective. It focuses on how the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has incorporated the due diligence standard and examines its potential as a legal tool to ascertain the nature of state obligations pertaining to those manifestations of domestic violence against women that are worthy of international intervention in the West African sub-region and Africa as a whole.
Highlights
State responsibility for violations of human rights by private or nonstate actors and the acknowledgment of domestic violence as an infringement of human rights are developing concepts in international law.[1]
It focuses on how the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice has incorporated the due diligence standard and examines its potential as a legal tool to ascertain the nature of state obligations pertaining to those manifestations of domestic violence against women that are worthy of international intervention in the West African sub-region and Africa as a whole
In May 2018 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) gave a landmark decision in favour of the complainants in IHRDA & Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) v The Federal Republic of Nigeria3 – the first ever domestic violence case to be brought before the Court
Summary
State responsibility for human rights violations by private individuals as well as the cataloguing of domestic violence as a human rights violation in international law are emerging concepts being filtered through regional and international courts, quasi-judicial and treaty-monitoring bodies These judicial and quasi-judicial bodies delineate a framework for determining state obligations with regard to domestic violence under international human rights law through the due diligence standard. This article contributes to the dialogue on the standard for state responsibility together with the forms of domestic violence acts that are appropriate to warrant intervention from an African perspective It focuses on how the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has incorporated the due diligence standard and examines its potential as a legal tool to ascertain the nature of state obligations pertaining to those manifestations of domestic violence against women that are worthy of international intervention in the West African sub-region and Africa as a whole
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