Of the Women’s Rights Jurisprudence of the ECOWAS Court: The Role of the Maputo Protocol and the Due Diligence Standard

Abstract

The Maputo Protocol, adopted in 2003, was intended to counterbalance the normative deficiencies of the African Charter with respect to women’s rights. However, 15 years down the line, there is not much case law on the Protocol. The ECOWAS Court made its first pronouncement on the Protocol in 2017 in Dorothy Njemanze & 3 Others v. The Federal Republic of Nigeria. This paper analyses three gender-based violence decisions by the Ecowas Court: Dorothy Njemanze, Aminata Diantou Diane and Mary Sunday cases. The paper examines the potential of the Protocol and the due diligence principle in influencing the Ecowas Court’s jurisprudence on women’s rights and makes recommendations.