The constitutional problems to protect the principle of linguistic equality in Cameroon
Posted: 28 August, 2018 Filed under: Frank Maxime Yankam Lemdjo | Tags: Anglophone Cameroonians, Anglophone crisis, bijural system, Cameroon, Common Law principles, constitutional marginalization, constitutional system, discrimination, dominant francophone, linguistic equality, official languages, OHADA treaty 3 Comments
Author: Frank Maxime Yankam Lemdjo
Researcher, Peace and Security Department, African Union.
Cameroon will soon elect its next President. Whilst preparation of this important event is underway, the country is facing one of its greatest social crisis known as the Anglophone crisis. This reflection aims to point out the fact that the Constitution adopted on 18 January 1996[1] and revised by law 2008/001 of 14 April 2008[2]cemented a constitutional system that has failed to achieve one of the principles that the same Constitution guarantees: the principle of equality between Francophone and Anglophone. Article 1(3) of the Constitution states that ‘the official languages of the Republic of Cameroon shall be English and French, both languages having the same status’. The Constitution sets out the principle of linguistic equality in Cameroon, without further explanation on how this principle would be guaranteed. The same article further states that ‘the State shall guarantee bilingualism throughout the country. It shall endeavor to promote and protect national languages’. In the meantime, the preamble of the Constitution states that: ‘the State shall ensure the rights of minorities […] in accordance with the law’. But the Constitution does not provide a definition for the term ‘minorities’.
Apartheid, gender and property relations in South Africa: Some reflections from Rahube v Rahube & Others
Posted: 20 August, 2018 Filed under: Kennedy Kariseb, Nimrod Muhumuza | Tags: apartheid-era laws, black women, customary law, Group Areas Act, Land reform, ownership, post-apartheid, property ownership, Rahube judgment, Rahube v Rahube & Others, South Africa Leave a commentAuthors: Kennedy Kariseb & Nimrod Muhumuza
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| Kennedy Kariseb | Nimrod Muhumuza |
Land reform is a litmus test for how far post-apartheid democratic South Africa is willing to go to redress its abhorrent racist and sexist history. There have been several attempts to reconcile colonial and apartheid-era laws with their concomitant rights and obligations in the new democratic dispensation, epitomised by the transformative 1996 Constitution. The latest proposal is to expropriate land without compensation which is currently undergoing public consultation. However, scant attention has been paid to the gendered land relations that have excluded women from owning land in their own name.
The recent judgment of Kollapen J in Rahube v Rahube & Others,[1] is one such case that indicates the difficulty of reconciling the impact of a skewed racial, gendered history in a new democratic dispensation premised in a supposedly transformative constitutional regime.[2] The Rahube judgment is another (rather unfortunate) reminder of the subordinate position that women occupy in South Africa, as in most parts of Africa, reminding us that inasmuch as land and property relations in South Africa were racially anchored, they were, (and still are) thoroughly gendered. This is because for the most part, colonial and apartheid laws and practices limited, and at worst excluded women from accessing and controlling resources such as property, including land.[3]
Freedom of expression: Hopes, anxieties and skepticism in Liberia’s nascent democracy
Posted: 2 August, 2018 Filed under: Urias Teh Pour | Tags: constitution, Criminal Libel laws, decriminalise free speech, ECOWAS Treaty, free speech, freedom of expression, Freedom of Information Act, George Manneh Weah, human rights, ICCPR, Konate v. Burkina Faso, Liberia, Liberian Football legend, Ministry of Information, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, newly elected Governmen, Penal Law, Table Mountain Declaration, UN Human Rights Committee 2 Comments
Author: Urias Teh Pour
Legal Advisor on the Liberia Law Society Land Rights and Freedom of Expression Projects
The recent move to repeal Liberia’s Criminal Libel laws by the newly elected Government of former Liberian Football legend, George Manneh Weah, has been hailed by human rights groups as a positive step in the right direction. The effort to decriminalise section 11.11 of the Penal Law comes barely two months following the visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to Liberia. The UN Officials called on the Government of Liberia to review all laws that undermine free speech, as guaranteed by article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other instruments ratified by Liberia.
Tax treatment of gains on the sale of assets in the extractive sector in DRC: A much-needed mix of human rights, sustainable development and legal certainty
Posted: 23 July, 2018 Filed under: Eric Ntini Kasoko | Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), DRC, extractive industry, gas, Law on Hydrocarbons, legislation, Mining Code, mining operations, natural resources, nonrenewable, tax, tax policy, taxpayers’ rights Leave a comment
Author: Eric Ntini Kasoko
Prospective Independent Tax Advisor; Researcher
The extractive industry consists of operations of exploration and/or exploitation of nonrenewable natural resources, especially gas, petroleum and mining operations. A distinction is to be made between the hydrocarbon sector (which comprises petroleum and gas activities) and the non-hydrocarbon sector (which relates to mining activities). Mineral-rich countries may choose to enact an all-encompassing piece of legislation to regulate both sectors. They may also opt for two or even three different pieces of legislation, each designed to regulate a specific sector.
The outlaws in Malawi: The travails of sexual minorities in a Southern African country
Posted: 10 July, 2018 Filed under: Urerimam Raymond Shamaki | Tags: criminalize, discrimination, homosexuality, ICCPR, intersex, LGBTI, Malawi, Penal Code, sex reassignment surgery, sexual minorities, transgender, transsexual 1 Comment
Author: Urerimam Raymond Shamaki
Barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria; LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) Candidate
Introduction
Homosexuality is still considered a crime in many countries of the world. Malawi is one of the 33 countries in Africa and 72 in the world that still criminalises homosexuality. Although there is no direct law prohibiting homosexuality in Malawi such as is the case in countries like Nigeria with the Same-Sex Prohibition Act 2015, there are still provisions of some laws indirectly affecting homosexual activities in Malawi. This article briefly reviews some of the provisions of these laws and how they impact on the rights of sexual minorities in Malawi.
Stop the human rights violations in the South-west and North-west regions of Cameroon now: A call on all relevant stakeholders
Posted: 3 July, 2018 Filed under: Basiru Bah, Essa Njie, Theophilus Odaudu, Urerimam Raymond Shamaki | Tags: African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, Anglophone regions, arbitrary arrest, Cameroon, death in custody, detention, human rights, protests, torture, use of force, violations Leave a commentAuthors: Basiru Bah, Essa Njie, Theophilus Michael Odaudu and Urerimam Raymond Shamaki on behalf of the 2018 class of the Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria)
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| Basiru Bah | Essa Njie | Theophilus Odaudu | Urerimam Raymond Shamaki |
For the Centre for Human Rights latest press release on the human rights violations in Cameroon, please visit www.chr.up.ac.za/StopCameroonViolations
Since 2016, the human rights situation in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon has been deteriorating. It all started with peaceful protests organised by lawyers, teachers and students in the region demanding the appointment of Anglophone Cameroonians to key positions in the judiciary, civil service and educational institutions. The state responded with brutal force killing at least 10 people and injuring hundreds. This crack down increased agitation in the region and further calls for reform and even secession. The government militarised the area and conducted series of operations against protesters killing even more people. Amnesty International has reported arson attacks, torture, incommunicado detentions, arbitrary and extra-judicial executions, murder and other inhumane acts against civilians. These atrocities are committed by both the Cameroon security forces and armed separatist movements. The end of 2017 to date has seen more than 150,000 people being internally displaced and over 20,000 fleeing to neighbouring Nigeria in the wake of increased violence in the region. Cameroon is edging closer to civil war every day as the world watches in silence.
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.
