West African women are entitled to seek relief for their human rights violations by means of two parallel African systems for the protection of human rights, the African system at the regional level, and the ECOWAS system at the sub-regional level. The combination of broad interpretation and application of human rights instruments, direct individual access and accessibility without the need to exhaust local remedies explains why the ECOWAS system is more frequently resorted to than the African system when it comes to filing complaints for alleged human rights violations in West Africa. Among the human rights instruments that the ECOWAS Court is mandated to interpret and apply, some are more reflective of the particular protection needs of women, e.g. CEDAW, and others of the specific cultural context of sub-Saharan Africa, e.g. the African Charter. Yet, one instrument stands out as the most comprehensive one in terms of legal protection of women placed in the particular cultural context of sub-Saharan Africa, namely the Maputo Protocol. It does so by upholding an intersectional approach in the wording and substance of the rights contained in it. On one hand, it is sensitive to the specific needs of women throughout the document. On the other hand, it places the protection of women’s rights in their cultural context. In doing so, it offers a less contentious alternative to e.g. CEDAW, which has been claimed to perpetuate a cultural hegemony reflecting Western values. With specific regard to gender-based violence, the Maputo Protocol offers extensive and progressive protection running as a golden thread throughout the document. Yet, the application of the Maputo Protocol by the ECOWAS Court appears to be inconsistent in cases concerning gender-based violence against women, as the Court seems to give application priority to indeed relevant, yet more general instruments, such as CEDAW and the African Charter. This is problematic because it increases the risk of inadequate, or at least not as adequate, protection in future cases pertaining to West African women’s human rights. Furthermore, the inconsistent application of the Maputo Protocol by the ECOWAS Court limits its visibility and potential as well as its solidification as the primary choice of application as long as African women are concerned, at least in West Africa. The aim of this thesis is to study whether and how the development of the ECOWAS Court into a human rights body has impacted the protection of women’s rights in West Africa. More specifically, it seeks to illustrate the role of the Maputo Protocol in protecting the rights of African women as compared to other relevant human rights instruments, as well as the potential repercussions on the protection of women’s rights in West Africa of the way in which the ECOWAS Court has applied the Protocol.