Women’s month: A time of reflection
Posted: 29 August, 2023 Filed under: Tsholofelo Nakedi | Tags: apartheid system, brutal killings, celebration of women, discrimination against women, femicide, gender equality, health and safety of women, imbokodo, injustice, Laws and policies, passbook, racial segregation, safe spaces for women and girls, sexual offences, South Africa, violence against women, Women’s Month 1 Comment
Author: Tsholofelo Nakedi
Community Advocacy Specialist
Throughout history, women have played a significant role in fighting injustices, with most of that role often downplayed by historians. Hence it is exciting to be part of a country like South Africa that has dedicated the month of August to celebrating women. Women’s Month marks the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society. In addition, Women’s Month is an opportunity for South Africans to pay tribute to the generations of women also called imbokodo – the rock whose struggles laid the foundations for progress in empowering women and achieving gender equality. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on women’s and children’s experiences.
The Maputo Protocol: Abolitionist or tolerative approach to polygamy, in the light of Ethiopia’s reservation?
Posted: 21 August, 2023 Filed under: Meron Eshetu Birhanu | Tags: Article 650, Criminal Code, cultural norms, Ethiopia, human rights, imprisonment, lack of legal protection, Maputo Protocol, Maputo Protocol Ratification Proclamation, monogamy, polygamous marriage, polygamy, polygamy belt, religious laws, religious norms, Revised Family Code, social norms, traditional practices, women’s rights 1 Comment
Author: Meron Eshetu Birhanu
Technical Assistant, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
Despite growing modernity and advocacy for women’s rights, polygamy remains a common practice embraced by social, cultural, and religious norms[1] in most parts of Africa, including Ethiopia. The highest proportion of polygamy in Africa is found in the so-called ‘polygamy belt’, which spans from Senegal in West Africa to Tanzania in East Africa.[2] According to the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 11 percent of married women in Ethiopia are in polygamous relationships, of which 9 percent have one co-wife and 2 percent have two or more co-wives.[3]
Forced marriage is a major concern for mental health of victims: Why are partners not doing enough? A case of Somalia
Posted: 15 August, 2023 Filed under: Bahja Hassan | Tags: CFM, child marriage, child mothering, economic gain, escaping poverty, forced marriage, fundamental rights of girls, gender equality, Girls Not Brides, health risks, Laws and policies, legal frameworks, mental health, mental healthcare, mental healthcare services, negative implications, ocial-cultural underpinning, political instability, poverty alleviation, right to education, rights to dignity, Somalia Leave a comment
Author: Bahja Hassan
Independent Somali Gender Analyst
Summary
This article points out why initiatives to address child and forced marriages in Somalia are inadequate at providing mental health services to survivors of child marriages. It proposes an urgent rethinking of current interventions and approaches to integrate mental healthcare services so that frontline workers are equipped with necessary skills to provide services to young mothers. It argues that failure to integrate mental healthcare services into programmes aimed at ending child and forced marriage would not provide any meaningful results. This is because child and forced marriage inevitably impact girls’ mental health so much as it violates their rights to dignity, education, and livelihoods.
The relative success of fact checking services in combatting fake news – a quick patch for a systemic problem?
Posted: 26 July, 2023 Filed under: Mihail Stojanoski | Tags: accessible information, Deutsche Welle, education system, election periods, fact-checking, Fake News, independent fact-checkers, intermediary regulation, lack of rationality, logical assumption, media literacy, monetary gain, research, social media, tech companies, time-limit Leave a comment
Author: Mihail Stojanoski
Human rights lawyer, Macedonia
There is little need to introduce the buzzword “fake news” and the risks associated with it. The phenomenon is nothing new but its re-emergence during the second half of the past decade is attributed in large part to the massive proliferation of news on social media and the overall lower barriers for entry into the field of news distribution.[1]
Responses were numerous and quick to appear – from the introduction of an interim take-down measure available during election periods in France to outsourcing the problem by introducing intermediary responsibility of the platforms which transmit the content in question in Germany. Setting aside the latter, which rapidly gained global popularity ,[2] an initial antidote to fake news, which was introduced swiftly and to public acclaim in many countries, was fact-checking.
‘Afrofuturism’, Pop Culture & Mainstreaming TWAIL
Posted: 13 July, 2023 Filed under: Adithya Variath | Tags: academic exploration, Afrofuturism, Black Panther, hierarchical problems, human rights, imperialism, international law, Karal Vašák, nanotechnology, political legitimacy, popular culture, technology, theoretical frameworks, TWAIL Leave a comment
Author: Adithya Variath
Assistant Professor, Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai, India
Despite Africa’s growing geopolitical significance, its under-representation and under-participation in the discourse of international law-making is a paradox. The absence of local contexts and an indigenous approach to law has been bedevilling the culture of academic exploration and human rights law research in third-world countries. For the first world global academic circle, any effort to provide an alternative structure (like TWAIL or Afrofuturism) face hostility and resistance from European counterparts. This is also because imperialism, as a post-colonial leftover of defining the context and content of international law has penetrated the understanding and pedagogies of human rights law in Africa.
ICTs and Access to judicial remedies during the COVID-19 era
Posted: 6 July, 2023 Filed under: Namatirayi Ngwasha | Tags: African countries, CaseLines, COVID-19, e-filing systems, Electronic Case Management System, ICT functions, ICT technologies, IECMS, lack of consistency, legislation, lockdown measures, National Judicial Council Guidelines, teleconferencing, videoconferencing Leave a comment
Author: Namatirayi Ngwasha
Lawyer
COVID-19 and access to the courts
The increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in 2020 forced many countries in Africa to resort to the adoption of lockdown measures. Operational changes that were made included amending court rules and operating procedures. Technological methods used include video conferencing and live broadcast to ensure public access to hearings. In some instances, the number of staff coming to work was cut or staff had to work on rotational bases at the courts to enable social distancing. As a result, some of the cases fell off the court system and there was lack of consistency of handling cases due to the rotation of court staff.
The paper seeks to investigate how access to the courts was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and how the different courts adapted.
Ensuring Digital Accessibility for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education through Digital Accessibility Online Tools and Digital Accessibility Training
Posted: 29 June, 2023 Filed under: Alecia Samuels | Tags: accessibility, accessibility issues, Audio alternatives, difficulties in accessibility, Digital accessibility, digital content, Electronic Braille, ePub, higher education, Higher Education Act, learning impairments, Learning Management Systems, narrated video content, navigational methods, Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, Semantic HTML, South Africa, South African Schools Act, Students with Disabilities, universal accessibility standards, visual impairments 1 Comment
Author: Alecia Samuels
Associate Professor, Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication , University of Pretoria
When teaching and learning moved almost exclusively online during the COVID-19 pandemic, it brought into sharper focus for universities, the accessibility of their digital content especially for students with disabilities. Digital accessibility is the process of making digital products and content (websites, mobile apps, documents and other digital media and technologies) accessible for everyone regardless of any barriers they might have. While becoming increasingly relevant during the COVID 19 pandemic when universities were forced to move teaching and learning almost exclusively online, for many students with disabilities, difficulties in accessibility of the digital portions of their studies has predated the pandemic not just globally but in South Africa as well. If they are to be successful in their courses and conduct their own research, students with disabilities in higher education need learning materials and information to not just be available but also accessible in various formats that will allow them to be engaged in their learning.
Impact of artificial intelligence on effective judicial protection
Posted: 26 June, 2023 Filed under: Jackeline Maribel Payé Salazar | Tags: access to justice, AI technology, AI-based programmes, algorithms, Artificial intelligence, automated court decisions, challenges, civil jurisdiction, COMPAS software, human rights, judge-robot systems, judicial protection, justice administration systems, predictable justice, regulatory frameworks Leave a comment
Author: Jackeline Maribel Payé Salazar
Lawyer
Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) makes a significant contribution to achieving timely and predictable justice. However, it is necessary to analyze the challenges that its use represents for the right to effective judicial protection. This right includes not only the right of people to access the courts of justice and to obtain a judicial decision in a reasonable period of time but also the right to obtain a decision duly motivated. This supposes that judicial decisions have to express the reasons on which they are based. In this sense, the author asks: is it possible to sufficiently guarantee the right to effective judicial protection if we use expert systems based on AI? What are the benefits of AI in the justice administration system? What is the “dark side” of AI? What are its limits, from the perspective of the right to effective judicial protection?
#gameofphones: Examining the social media regulatory regimes across Africa
Posted: 22 June, 2023 Filed under: Blessing Temitope Oguntuase | Tags: Access to Information, Africa, corruption, Facebook, freedom of expression, fundamental human rights, gender-based violence, ideological conflicts, information, Instagram, internet shutdown, military operations, political campaigns, social media, social media movements, social media tax, warfare, Whatsapp Leave a comment
Author: Blessing Temitope Oguntuase
Lawyer
Blood, gore, and broken human bones sprawled across the blood tainted soil for miles and miles, the stereotypical image of a war-torn battlefield. Over a century ago, one might have thought it impossible for the iconic swords and bullets to be traded for smartphones and twiddling fingers. Who could have imagined the metal battle armours being replaced with the anonymity of a social media profile?
Reflecting on the importance of migration in an African context: A case for the ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families by African states
Posted: 19 June, 2023 Filed under: Jonette-Ann Matilda O. Greene, Waris Asmal | Tags: African history, civil war, conflict, economic collapse, employment, fundamental human rights, globalisation, governance failure, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, legal entitlements, mass-migration, medical treatment, migrant workers Leave a comment
Author: Jonette-Ann Matilda O. Greene
Human Rights Advocate
Author: Waris Asmal
Intern, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Introduction: Migration in a pan-African context
In Southern Africa the ‘great shattering’ of the Nguni people that led to mass-migration in the form of the Mfecane in the 19th century teaches us that the free movement of peoples to escape conflict or disruptions to way of life, is an integral part of African history. Similarly, trends of mass migration in the 20th century in North Africa, be it from Libya or Sierra Leone during their civil wars or even mass migration in East Africa from Rwanda during the genocide demonstrate that migration of people away from centres of conflict to pursue a better life is a core part of African history.
AfricLaw 