African Human Rights Law Journal最新文献

{"title":"Recent publications","authors":"Omowumi A Dada","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a11","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":"242 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136082821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Overcoming challenges to the adjudication of election-related disputes at the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights: Perspectives from the Ngandu case","authors":"T. Makunya","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a3","url":null,"abstract":"The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is increasingly taking on the role of a regional electoral adjudication body in resolving election-related human rights violations. While this role is essential because of the contested nature of elections in Africa and the inability of many national election resolution mechanisms to sanction election irregularities, the African Commission must master the intricacies of election dispute resolution in member states for its recommendations to be based on sound legal principles. Its decision in the Ngandu case provides an opportunity to assess the nature of some of the challenges faced by the Commission when adjudicating election-related disputes and how to overcome these. In this decision, the African Commission found that the Democratic Republic of the Congo had violated the complainant's right to defence, to political participation and to work following the annulment of his election as a member of the National Assembly by the country's interim Constitutional Court (the Supreme Court of justice). The analysis of the case suggests that, despite the African Commission's ability to re-affirm the relevance of the right to political participation for the consolidation of democracy in Africa and protecting the right to a fair trial and to work, it must address three types of challenges in its role as election-adjudication body using the procedural mechanisms provided for in both the African Charter and the Rules of Procedure. These challenges are the knowledge of electoral justice systems operating in the DRC and Africa at large; the impossibility of restitution as a form of reparation; and the state's participation in proceedings and the implementation of recommendations.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42641050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A comparative analysis of the right of access to information under the Nigerian Freedom of Information Act 2011 and the South African Promotion of Access to Information Act 2001","authors":"Omosede A Osawe","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a7","url":null,"abstract":"The right to information is a multi-faceted right that includes the right to express or disseminate, seek, receive and to impart information. This right of access to public information is crucial in order for citizens to be properly informed, as the greater part of public information is controlled by the state, formed, collected and processed using public resources, which makes it a public possession. Thus, the right not only is a requirement, but an inherent part of human existence. However, the efficacy of an access law is determined by the extent of access actually guaranteed without altering its form or content. This can be assured by adhering to the legal principles governing the right of access. This article adopts the doctrinal methodology in undertaking a comparative study of the Nigerian Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the South African Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). The aim is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both access laws, and the article finds that the PAIA is a more potent law in ensuring access to public information. Further, it canvasses that inspiration should be drawn from the robustness of the PAIA in a bid to strengthen the FOIA to guarantee full access to information. The analysis reveals that the PAIA contains more innovative provisions, such as restricted exemptions to access information, measures to promote the right of access and a broader scope of the right of access, which are essential for effective access to public information.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47388391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Land grabbing and the implications for the right to development in Africa","authors":"lean-Claude N Ashukem, Carol Chi NGANG","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a4","url":null,"abstract":"The indispensability ofland for agriculture and the extraction of the natural resources thereon to sustain industrialisation and economic growth processes across the world have orchestrated a significant change in patterns of land ownership and use in Africa where evictions and displacement of local communities from their ancestral lands have become legion as a result of persistent land grabbing. This situation has had a concomitant negative implication for the potential of local communities in Africa to develop socio-economically and culturally, with a corresponding negative impact on their right to development. It is not clear whether the right to development enshrined in the African Charter could be relied upon to achieve Africa's development prospects, particularly with the prevalence of land grabbing across the continent. Taking land as a major contributing factor to socio-economic and cultural development, we argue that land grabbing not only contravenes but also bars prospects of making the right to development a reality for the peoples of Africa. Based on the doctrinal research methodology, we critically review the normative contents of the right to development in conjunction with other relevant provisions under the African Charter. We question whether the right to development affords prospects for socio-economic and cultural advancement in the face of land grabbing in Africa. Concerning the adverse impact of land grabbing, the article concludes that it is crucial for African states to re-think their right to development obligations and the land ownership and land use policy prerogatives relevant to protecting the livelihood sustainability interests of their peoples.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48770629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Distribution of face masks in Kakuma refugee camp during a pandemic: Legal obligations and responsibilities","authors":"Orianna Haldimann, Lukas Biedermann","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a6","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that the inhabitants of the Kakuma refugee camp are in a special relationship with the state, resulting in an increased duty of care of the latter towards the former. The effect of this increased duty of care ultimately results in a positive obligation to provide face masks to the inhabitants to protect them from COVID-19, based on the right to the best attainable standard of health and the right to life. The article then turns to the question of who is responsible to provide such face masks in the camp. After first analysing the situation on site, the article argues that a shift of responsibility of the host state to the UN Refugee Agency took place.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49556972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Construing pre-1995 laws to bring them in conformity with the Constitution of Uganda: Courts' reliance on article 274 of the Constitution to protect human rights","authors":"J. D. Mujuzi","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a9","url":null,"abstract":"Article274 of the Ugandan Constitution (1995) provides that laws that existed at the time of the entry into force of the Constitution 'shall be construed with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring it in conformity with this Constitution'. The jurisprudence from Ugandan courts shows that they have adopted three approaches to give effect to article 274 and, as a result, protected human rights such as the right to equality (freedom from discrimination), property, human dignity, liberty and the right to bail. The first approach is for the court to read word(s) into the impugned legislative provision without any deletions. This is done in one of the two ways: by either reading these words expressly into the impugned legislation, or by doing so impliedly. The second approach is for the court to strike out words from the impugned provision and replace these with new words. According to this approach, the court either adds a few words or overhauls the entire provision. It is argued that overhauling a legislative provision is beyond the mandate of the court's power under article 274 and it ignores the principle of separation of powers in terms of which Parliament has the role to make laws. The third approach is for the court to 'strike out' or 'read out' words from the impugned legislation without replacing them. Although the Constitutional Court is the only court with the mandate to declare legislation inconsistent with the Constitution (under article 137), other courts have invoked article 274 to declare legislation unconstitutional, thus usurping the powers of the Constitutional Court. Is it argued that the Constitution may have to be amended so that other courts, other than the Constitutional Court, are also empowered to declare legislation unconstitutional on condition that such declaration takes effect after it has been confirmed by the Constitutional Court. A similar approach has been followed in other African countries such as South Africa.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42977629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Recent publications","authors":"Robert I Rotberg","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a10","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136082820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The potential of litigating children's rights in the climate crisis before the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child","authors":"E. Boshoff, Samrawit Getaneh Damtew","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a1","url":null,"abstract":"While human rights-based climate litigation has globally increased exponentially in the past few years, no cases related to the climate crisis have been filed before the regional African human rights bodies. The aim of this article is to systematically review the requirements for successful litigation before one of the African human rights bodies, namely, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The article considers the potential for successful climate change litigation before the African Children's Committee based on the possible substantive rights arguments, the procedural challenges that may have to be overcome, and the potential remedies that may be granted by the African Children's Committee. It concludes that the Children's Committee is an important potential forum for child rights-based climate litigation, given that it provides strong substantive rights protection, including for the rights of future generations, broad and adaptable provisions on standing, and has a record of granting strong and transformative remedies.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42304825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An analysis of political homophobia, elitism and social exclusion in the colonial origins of anti-gay laws in Nigeria","authors":"Ayodele Sogunro","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a8","url":null,"abstract":"Critical Legal Studies suggests that any serious legal advocacy must critically engage with the social and political subtext of the law in order to yield positive outcomes. This suggestion is equally applicable to advocacy for sexual and gender minorities in contexts such as Nigeria. Based on this premise, this article employs theories of political homophobia, elite power and social exclusion to analyse the social and political context surrounding the evolution of criminalising laws during the colonial phase of Nigeria's history. The article proceeds to show that political homophobia, through laws that criminalised same-sex relationships, was a strategic tool utilised under the colonial administration to protect colonial interests and maintain the legitimacy of colonisation. This strategy was a colonial imperative regardless of whether or not the local population may have agreed to or participated in the process. The outcome of, and incentive for, this process of political homophobia included the social exclusion of a large majority of the population for the benefit of an elite class. It is argued that an understanding of the rationale behind the colonial evolution of anti-gay laws can provide an insight into the entrenchment of political homophobia in Nigeria and similar legal systems in Africa and challenge the rhetoric that these laws reflect African values.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44489591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The post-2010 jurisprudence on children's rights under the Kenyan Constitution","authors":"Godfrey O Odongo","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a5","url":null,"abstract":"The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 provides for a comprehensive Bill of Rights that seeks to ensure the protection of rights with an emphasis on 'marginalised' and 'vulnerable' persons. A dedicated clause and other specific provisions in the Bill of Rights detail the rights for children. Since 2010 the Kenyan judiciary has adopted a progressive stance by interpreting these provisions in ways that affirm children's autonomy and agency while recognising the reality of children's vulnerability and their need for protection. The expansive provisions of the Constitution have also enabled Kenyan courts to more readily embrace systematic remedial measures, such as judicial recommendations for the reform of the applicable legal framework and implementation of new policies to give effect to rights.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43842645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}