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[8 October 2009] – A meeting of ECOWAS States was held in Abuja, Nigeria last week. The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975. Its mission is to promote economic integration in "all fields of economic activity, particularly industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters ....." ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community. The regional body also has a Community Court of Justice which has jurisdiction to hear human rights cases. High on the agenda of the three-day meeting was the Gambia's proposal to amend the Protocol on the Court of Justice. The Gambian proposal calls for a requirement to be established for petitioners to exhaust domestic remedies before taking the matter to the community court of justice. It also proposes limiting the jurisdiction of the court to examine human rights issues relating only to treaties already ratified by the respondent country. Last week a committee of experts from Member States recommended that the proposals be rejected. Recommendations drafted during the meeting will be presented to the Council of Ministers of the ECOWAS Commission in November 2009. ECOWAS Member States are: Benin, Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. An update on the meeting will be available shortly on our West Africa regional page here. [Sources: Afrique en ligne, Allafrica.com] Further information