The Cost of Separating Powers
Posted: 1 June, 2021 Filed under: Chris Himsworth, Linda Ajemba | Tags: COVID-19, discrimination i, government, health inequalities, human rights protection, lack of access to employment, mental conditions, mental health needs, psychosocial disability, SDGs, social environment, South Africa, Sustainable Development Goals Leave a comment
Author: Chris Himsworth
University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
It was reported on 28 April 2021 that authorities in Lesotho could not appoint a new High Court judge because of a lack of funds. While this might have come as a shock to most people, this will not have surprised the authors of the Report on the Independence of the Judiciary in the Kingdom of Lesotho, published only a month earlier in March. Chaired by Justice Zak Yacoob, former South African Constitutional Court Judge, a Working Group of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Lawyers’ Association had aired a trenchant critique of the current condition of judicial independence in Lesotho.
The ACtHPR: From the Politics of Gender to the Gender of Politics? Why Women’s Representation on the Bench is not Enough
Posted: 26 May, 2021 Filed under: Linda Ajemba | Tags: ACtHPR, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Bureau of the Court, Court Protocol, elections of judges, female majority bench, Gender of Politics, gender parity, Politics of Gender, right of women Leave a comment
Authors: J. Jarpa Dawuni & Sègnonna H. Adjolohoun
In September 2018, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR or the Court) made history by swearing in two female judges, thereby bringing the Court’s composition to six women out of its 11 judges. The Court had thus achieved a female majority bench for the first time since its inception in 2006. The symbolic representation of women judges made the bench the most gender-balanced of all times. While women currently make up 55% of judges on the ACtHPR, they account for 35% of all judges since the Court was established, and only 20% of the leadership in the institution (i.e., two women have served in the Bureau versus eight men). In the following discussion, we analyse why women’s symbolic representation has not translated into their substantive leadership within the Court. We query whether the changes introduced to the Rules of Court in 2020, will be a catalyst for a sustainable women’s representation in the Court’s Bureau in the elections slated for 31 May 2021.
Using evidence in the time of COVID-19 to reduce health inequalities for Persons with Psychosocial Disability in South Africa
Posted: 27 April, 2021 Filed under: Linda Ajemba | Tags: COVID-19, discrimination i, government, health inequalities, human rights protection, lack of access to employment, mental conditions, mental health needs, psychosocial disability, SDGs, social environment, South Africa, Sustainable Development Goals 1 Comment
Author: Linda Ajemba
LLD candidate, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unparalleled impact on all spheres of life globally. As with other disasters, evidence shows that while the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic threatens all members of the society, it disproportionately affects persons with psychosocial disabilities. Persons with psychosocial disability refers to individuals suffering from a spectrum of mental conditions that influence their feelings, perceptions and behaviors. A psychosocial disability arises when someone with a mental health condition interacts with a social environment that presents barriers to their equality with others. Persons with psychosocial disabilities are greatly impacted by diverse response measures employed by governments across the globe to curb the pandemic.
Seventeen years of the Pan-African Parliament: taking stock and reimagining its future
Posted: 26 March, 2021 Filed under: Bonolo Makgale, Tariro Sekeramayi | Tags: 17 years, COVID-19, economic integration, human rights violations, lack of creativity, Pan-African Parliament, persons with albinism, recommendations, resolutions, use of force, volatile situations Leave a comment
Authors: Bonolo Makgale and Tariro Sekeramayi
Introduction
Dr. John Henrik Clarke once remarked, “History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be.”
The 18th of March 2021 marked the commemoration of the Pan-African Parliament’s (PAP) 17th year anniversary. The Midrand, South Africa based Parliament was established by the Abuja Treaty as one of the organs of the African Union (AU). At the time of its establishment, the PAP was earmarked as an organ of the AU that will provide a platform for increased public participation and for the Africans to participate in decision-making processes that affect the continent. The Parliament consists of representatives nominated by local legislatures and currently represents all of AU member states, with the exception of Eritrea. The PAP aims to foster development and economic integration on the continent, espousing the principle of “batho pele”, a Southern African political principle that translates to ‘people first’. The core of the PAP’s mandate is to promote citizen engagement and representation as democratic ideals. As we mark this incredible milestone, we take stock of how far the PAP has come and what its prospects are for improvement as we advance.
Constitutionalisation of public service and administration in Africa
Posted: 23 March, 2021 Filed under: Paul Mudau | Tags: accountability, administration, African Constitutions, Constitutional Reform, democracy, good governance, human rights, public administration, public policies, public service, rights of individuals, transparency Leave a comment
Author: Paul Mudau
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law at the University of South Africa
‘Modern African constitutions’ produced by the recent wave of constitutional reforms that swept across Africa generally transpired in the constitutionalisation of public service and administration. Public administration is any institution with operations aimed at applying, enforcing or fulfilling public policies and programmes or undertaking public service duties as well as regulating the conduct of public servants. Public service is any service or public-interest activity provided by government under the authority of the relevant administration.
Decriminalisation of consensual same-sex acts in Angola and the progress of LGBTI human rights in Lusophone Africa
Posted: 5 March, 2021 Filed under: Rui Garrido | Tags: Angola, Angolan Penal Code, decriminalization of consensual sexual acts, Deputy President José Semedo, discrimination, domestic violence, for SOGI hate crimes, HIV/Aids, homophobia, ICPD, in Lusophone Africa, LGBTI, LGBTI human rights, Lusophone Africa, Portuguese, reproductive health, same-sex acts, sex education, sexual health, sexual rights, SOGIESC 9 Comments
Author: Rui Garrido
Ph.D Candidate, University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
On 11 February 2021, the new Angolan Penal Code officially entered in force. This new legislation represented a major achievement for LGBTI people not only in Angola, but across the rest of Africa. It is important to highlight that, while the Penal Code was approved in Parliament in 23 January 2019, it was only officially published on 11 November 2020. Prior to this, the criminal legislation, the Portuguese Criminal Code (1886), inherited from colonialism, criminalised the “vices against nature” (art. 71)), a very vague formulation for deemed to refer to consensual same-sex conduct. Angola was the last of the African former Portuguese colonies to repeal the colonial legislation.
African youth’s sexual and reproductive health: a plight of degeneration?
Posted: 24 February, 2021 Filed under: Thandwa Dlamini | Tags: Africa, child, childhood, children, consensual sex, Convention on the Rights of the Child, decriminalization of consensual sexual acts, HIV/Aids, ICPD, International Conference on Population and Development, reproductive health, sex education, sexual health, sexual rights, sexuality, SRHR, Sylvia Tamale, teenage pregnancies, youth 1 Comment
Author: Thandwa Dlamini
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria
At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, the right to sexual and reproductive health was recognised as the core of development. The right has also been embedded in various conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child where it was established that adolescents have a right to ‘age-appropriate’ sexual and reproductive health information, education, and services that enable them to deal positively and responsibly with their sexuality. However, these agreements have not been fully and effectively implemented in Africa mainly because the policies of most African countries are framed on the basis of religious morality which pushes the unrealistic agenda of abstinence. As a result, a line between impermissible age discrimination and legitimate protection of minors has been difficult to draw in young adolescents’ sexual relations. This article argues that there is a need to direct attention to the issues involved in consensual relations among young adolescents, in tandem with other strategies that work towards giving them full sexual autonomy whilst curtailing unsafe, risky health outcomes and violence.
Zimbabwe: High Court upholds Transgender persons’ constitutional rights
Posted: 19 February, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Many thanks to Keikantse Phele, a Botswana based Human Rights lawyer and LL.M. graduate in Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa, at the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Law. Her summary and analysis of this pioneering decision has just been published among the online updates to co-published third volume of case summaries, Legal Grounds: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts. We are pleased to circulate brief excerpts:
Ricky Nathanson v Farai Mteliso, The Officer in Charge Bulawayo Central Police Station, Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Home Affairs, Case no.HB 176/19 HC 1873/14 [2019] ZWBHC 135( (14 November 2019); (Zimbabwe, High Court) Decision online. Case Summary by Keikantse Phele (download PDF).
COURT HOLDING: The Plaintiff, a transgender woman, was awarded damages of 400,000 ZWD, for unlawful and malicious arrest during which she was subjected to inhuman…
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Kenya: “JMM” decision: Abortion legal after rape; Restore training guidelines
Posted: 19 February, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentMany thanks to Benson Chakaya, a D.Phil Candidate and M.Phil Graduate in the LL.M./M.Phil (Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Africa) degree program at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. He also serves as National Coordinator for Right Here Right Now Kenya hosted by the Family Health Options Kenya and formerly worked with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions. His full case summary and comment has been added to the online update of Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts.
We also thank Bernard Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, co-editor and author of Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies (2014), who provided a concise overview of this important decision:
Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida – Kenya) & 3 others v Attorney General& 2 others [2019] eKLR, Petition No…
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Making policy changes on the domestic level: a critical exposition of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Posted: 9 February, 2021 Filed under: Oludayo Olufowobi | Tags: affirmative action, charity approach, Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, disability, Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, domestic level, economic empowerment, human rights, inclusion, inclusivity, infrastructural deficits, legislation, Nigeria, poverty, PWDs, SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations Leave a comment
Author: Oludayo Olufowobi
Law student, University of Lagos
Fifteen percent of the world population experience some form of disability, with between 110 million and 190 million people experiencing significant disabilities. Persons with disabilities are more susceptible to experiencing more adverse socio-economic or living conditions compared to others. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) aims to bridge this gap. At the domestic level, persons with disabilities are most times subjected to live as second-class citizens. Discriminatory practices in our society and deficits in inclusive infrastructure exacerbate this problem. It is against this premise that this article seeks to explore the peculiarities of the Nigerian landscape, taking into account its plaguing insecurity, infrastructural deficits, and lapses in the protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities. There is a focus on the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition Act) 2018 vis-a-vis the government’s quest to realise the objectives of the CRPD.
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