By Lanre Oloyede
Disability rights advocacy group under the auspices of Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria, ALDIN, has paid an advocacy visit to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice over occupational discrimination against professionals with disabilities, PWDs, while demanding that lawyers with disabilities in West Africa countries be appointed to the bench as judges.
The group made up of legal practitioners with disabilities made their position known to the President of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Edward Amoako Asante, in Abuja on Thursday.
While addressing the ECOWAS Court President, the National President of ALDIN, Barr Daniel Onwe, frowns at unabated widespread indiscriminate violations of rights of persons with disabilities contrary to relevant articles of the African charter on human rights.
Onwe stated that the advocacy visit was necessitated due to the fact that Persons with disabilities are not put into consideration in the scheme of activities in the society, particularly, with the inaccessibility of the justice administration system to the PWDs.
He lamented that public buildings are inaccessible to PWDs because they are constructed with step flights without consideration to people with crutches, and people on wheel chairs.
Onwe argued that there are serious legal implications when public buildings are inaccessible to PWDs as a result of man-made architectural barriers which violate their fundamental human rights to movement, right to freedom of association and right to dignity of human person contrary to articles 12, 10 and 5 respectively of the African charter on human and people’s rights.
“Our courts of justices are neither just nor fair to PWDs. Court buildings and environments are very inaccessible to PWDs who come to court as counsels, litigants or witnesses. When they come to court, they face untold hardship,” he averred.
The group demanded that elevators and ramps be made available to PWDs to enable them access the court and its environment either as layers, litigants or witnesses who need to approach the court to access justice.
In his response, the president of ECOWAS court of justice, Hon. Justice Edward Amoako Asante apologized to the group for the difficulty they faced in gaining access to the court room and other inconsiderate procedure of the court that do not favour the PWDs as raised in their petition.
On appointment of lawyers with disabilities as judges, Asante regretted that the impediment on their path to attaining such position is beyond what he could address with administrative fiat as it is a procedural matter that requires each member country to nominate three nominees to be appointed as judges on the bench of the ECOWAS Court of justice.
He however promised to work with other judges and institutions within the ECOWAS sub-region to put measures in place that will address all the major concerns of the PWDs in the administration of justice system in West Africa.
This part of the project ALDIN started running last year, with the support of the Disability Rights Fund. And the project is targeted at making the justice administration system accessible to persons with disabilities.
