The status of the rights of persons with disabilities in Sierra Leone: The need for a paradigm shift from political lip service
Posted: 6 June, 2018 Filed under: Joel Tejan Deen-Tarawally Esq. | Tags: begging, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, democratic dispensation, Excellency Brigadier (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio, hearing and speech impaired, human rights, mentally impaired, National Social Protection Strategy, persons with disabilities, physically impaired, political lip-service, Poverty Reduction Interventions, Sierra Leone, social paradigm, visually impaired Leave a comment
Author: Joel Tejan Deen-Tarawally Esq.
Human Rights Lawyer, Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board
(An earlier version of this article was published in the Sierra Leonean newspaper Concord Times on 3 May 2018)
Whenever one speaks of persons with disabilities (such as the visually impaired, the hearing and speech impaired, the mentally and physically impaired) in Sierra Leone the next thing that comes to mind is an idea of destitute Sierra Leoneans begging in the streets of Freetown and other areas in the provinces. Such a national image regarding persons with disabilities is clearly not in line with Sierra Leone’s legal obligation under national and international laws.
Promoting and protecting children’s rights in Africa: Case of the Talibés of Senegal.
Posted: 31 May, 2018 Filed under: Henrietta Ekefre, Jonathan Obwogi, Samuel Ade Ndasi, Susan Mutambasere | Tags: ACERWC, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, children's rights, daaras, financial targets, forced child begging, la Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme, RADDHO, religious schools, Senegal, street begging, Talibés 1 CommentAuthors: Coordinator and members of the Implementation Clinic of the Centre for Human Rights
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| Henrietta Ekefre | Samuel Ade Ndasi | Susan Mutambasere | Jonathan Obwogi |
In 2012, the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, together with La Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO), an NGO in Senegal, submitted a case to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). The case concerned children forced into street begging in Senegal.
Since the 1980s, Senegal has had a challenge with access to primary education, which leaves thousands of children unable to get absorbed in the mainstream schools. Further, religion plays an important role in the upbringing of children. These have contributed to a situation where at least 100 000 children are enrolled in daaras (religious schools) often far away from their parents. The daaras are administered by marabouts who are religious leaders and not trained educators. These children who are called talibés live in deplorable and overcrowded conditions where they are subjected to various forms of abuse. The marabouts exploit the talibés by making them beg on the streets. In some instances, children are given financial targets to reach, failure of which results in punishment. There is no provision of medical care should the talibés fall sick as they essentially have to fend for themselves.
Why we need both words and actions to help Africa’s children
Posted: 23 May, 2018 Filed under: Assefa Bequele | Tags: access to justice, African Governments, African Union, Call to Action, children, children suffering, children's rights, civil society organisations, Continental Conference on Access to Justice for Children, informal justice system, NGOs, prison, UN agencies, UN Global Study Leave a comment
Author: Dr Assefa Bequele
Executive Director, Africa Child Policy Forum (ACPF)
We’re often told that actions speak louder than words, and it’s true we won’t change lives by simply talking about the problems. But I also think that you can’t make a real impact unless you’ve thoroughly debated and agreed what needs to be done. Words first, then actions.
I was reminded of this at the Continental Conference on Access to Justice for Children, held recently in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. More than two hundred child rights experts, politicians, lawyers and civil society activists came together to try and find a way forward for the thousands of children across Africa who are denied access to justice. It’s easy for the cynics to dismiss such conferences as talking shops – fine words and discussions, but little in the way of concrete action. And if we had simply presented and debated the issues, there could have been some truth in that
Building alliances between IDAHOT and MaputoProtocol@15 for womxn
Posted: 18 May, 2018 Filed under: David Ikpo | Tags: African Societies, Bruce Jenner, Caitlyn Jenner, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, homophobic inhumanity, human rights, human rights violations, IDAHOT, international Day Against Homophobia Transphobia and Biphobia, LGBTI, Maputo Protocol, MaputoProtocol@15, May 17, sexual orientations, Womxn Leave a comment
Author: David Ikpo
Nigerian lawyer and storyteller with a Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa
IDAHOT: The international Day Against Homophobia Transphobia and Biphobia
Maputo Protocol: Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa
Womxn: No set definition. This term, as used in this piece, refers to a broad still unraveling category of persons of female gender who voluntary identify, live, express their gender crossing stereotypical roles and standards, embracing her several cross-cutting circumstances and layers of identity, recognizing the humanity and diversity in her community, operating, demanding, believing in and working towards the substantive equality(equity) of all sexes and genders and against the repressive confines of the poisonous glorification of masculinity at the expense of the human rights of persons of female gender in all spaces. A feminist.
Victimised twice: Wartime rape in South Sudan is a women’s rights violation
Posted: 14 May, 2018 Filed under: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn | Tags: armed conflict, CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, gender-based discrimination, Geneva Conventions, harmful traditional practices, Maputo Protocol, rape, religious dogmas, sex stereotypes, sexual slavery, sexual violence, social prejudice, South Sudan, war, war crimes, women empowerment, women's rights 2 Comments
Author: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn
Human rights lawyer, Ethiopia
In December 2013, South Sudan was plunged into a massive scale of violence because of the outbreak of conflict between the Sudan Liberation Army and the Sudan People Liberation Movement. The fight took an ethnic turn as soldiers from the country’s largest groups, the Dinka, and Nuer, divided their loyalties to either President Kiir or his deposed vice, Mr Machar respectively. While some civilians were caught in the cross fire, others were deliberately targeted along ethnic lines. Women are the immediate victims of this conflict because of rampant sexual abuse perpetrated against them.
Reproductive Autonomy of Women and Girls under the Disabilities Convention
Posted: 3 April, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Congratulations to Prof. Charles Ngwena of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, whose valuable article has recently been published in the Ethical and Legal Issues section of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. We are pleased to circulate the following abstract:
“Reproductive Autonomy of Women and Girls under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” by Prof. Charles Ngwena, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 140.1 (Jan. 2018):128-133. PDF online for 12 months. Submitted text at SSRN
Women and girls with disabilities have historically been denied the freedom to make
their own choices in matters relating to their reproduction. In the healthcare sector
they experience multiple discriminatory practices. Women and girls with intellectual
disabilities are particularly vulnerable to coerced or forced medical interventions. The
present article considers the contribution the Convention on the Rights of Persons
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The unspoken: Unsafe abortion in The Gambia and the necessity for legal reform
Posted: 13 March, 2018 Filed under: Satang Nabaneh | Tags: back street abortions, family planning, Gambia, health care, illegal abortion, medical cost, Penal Code, religious traditions, restrictive abortion laws, The Gambia Family Planning Association, unsafe abortion, unwanted pregnancy, Women’s Act, women’s sexual and reproductive rights 1 Comment
Author: Satang Nabaneh
Project Officer, Women Rights Unit, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
In the Gambian context, the right of women to an informed choice and access to family planning and appropriate health-care service remains contentious due to the socio-cultural and religions dimensions. Being a society where deep-seated traditions and the Islamic religion play a major part in the life of a person and society, issues of sexuality and procreation are generally interpreted accordingly.
The Gambia has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Africa, which criminalises abortion based on colonially inherited penal code (Criminal Code, Act no. 25 of 1933). The Criminal Code follows the abortion law as provided in the English Offences against the Person Act of 1861 and subsequent interpretation by the Courts such as in the 1938 case of R v Bourne (3 ALL ER 615, [1939] 1 KB 687).
