Abuja, Nigeria – The Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, has commenced an eight-day validation workshop in Abuja to review and finalize the draft headnotes of its judgments and rulings from 2021 to 2024.
The workshop, which opened on Tuesday, 30 July 2025, is being held at the ECOWAS Parliament Building and is aimed at ensuring that the headnotes accurately capture the legal reasoning, decisions, and issues addressed by the Court during the period.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Registrar of the Court, Dr. Yaouza Ouro-Sama, underscored the importance of the exercise, stating that it aligns with the responsibilities assigned to the Registrar under Articles 15 and 65 of the Court’s Rules. These provisions entrust the Registrar with maintaining the Court’s records and overseeing its publications, including the official law reports.
“The preparation and publication of law reports form a critical aspect of strengthening judicial transparency, enhancing access to justice, and promoting legal certainty across the region,” Dr. Ouro-Sama noted. “The target of this validation exercise has to do with the headnotes for the period 2021–2024. This period has witnessed significant jurisprudential developments in the work of the Court.”
He emphasized that the Court’s judgments during these years reflect its growing influence in promoting the rule of law, safeguarding human rights, and interpreting ECOWAS Community law.
Delivering a presentation on the objectives and expectations of the workshop, Mrs. Marie Saine, Registrar in charge of Judicial Records, Archives & Publications, described the headnotes as essential tools for navigating the Court’s jurisprudence.
“The draft headnotes that we are gathered here to review and validate form the gateway to the Court’s jurisprudence. They are the concise summaries that guide judges, lawyers, researchers, academics, students, and the wider public through the Court’s reasoning, principles, and decisions,” she explained. “Their accuracy, clarity, and structure are therefore of critical importance.”
Mrs. Saine also outlined the workshop’s broader goals, which include promoting editorial consistency, fostering inter-departmental collaboration, and improving internal processes for preparing and publishing the law reports.
Participants at the workshop include registrars, legal officers, heads of units, language services personnel, and technical staff.
The forum is expected to culminate in the finalization of headnotes for judgments and rulings delivered by the Court over the last four years, ensuring they meet the required standards for publication in the official ECOWAS Court Law Reports.
