Posted: 26 May, 2021 | Author: AfricLaw | 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 |
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.
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Posted: 15 December, 2014 | Author: AfricLaw | Filed under: Ayalew Getachew Assefa | Tags: 20th Ordinary Session, ACERWC, Africa, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of a Child, African Children’s Charter, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 6, birth, birth registration, citizenship, confidentiality, ethnic minorities, General Comment, registration of birth, statelessness, UNICEF |
Author: Ayalew Getachew Assefa
Legal researcher, Secretariat of the ACERWC
As is the case with other human rights, the right to birth registration and nationality are interrelated, and the realization of these rights plays a great role in preventing statelessness. Birth registration, as an act of recording a birth of a child by a governmental authority with the effect of granting the child a legal personality, establishes the existence in law of a child. It is through birth registration and acquisition of a birth certificate that the parentage of children, their age, and their place of birth can be recorded. These elements play a significant role in according nationality for children, and hence prevent statelessness.
It is in consideration of this fact that Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC/the African Children’s Charter) recognizes three interlinked rights and imposes an obligation on State Parties to take legislative measures to prevent statelessness among children. In order to clearly spell out and explain the obligations of State Parties in implementing the provision, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), in April 2013, adopted a General Comment (the General Comment) on this particular Article. This article briefly explains the reasons why the Committee decided to develop the General Comment and the major principles included in the General Comment.
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AfricLaw 
Realising the right to birth registration to prevent statelessness in Africa: in the context of the General Comment on Article 6 of the African Children’s Charter
Posted: 15 December, 2014 | Author: AfricLaw | Filed under: Ayalew Getachew Assefa | Tags: 20th Ordinary Session, ACERWC, Africa, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of a Child, African Children’s Charter, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 6, birth, birth registration, citizenship, confidentiality, ethnic minorities, General Comment, registration of birth, statelessness, UNICEF | 2 CommentsLegal researcher, Secretariat of the ACERWC
As is the case with other human rights, the right to birth registration and nationality are interrelated, and the realization of these rights plays a great role in preventing statelessness. Birth registration, as an act of recording a birth of a child by a governmental authority with the effect of granting the child a legal personality, establishes the existence in law of a child. It is through birth registration and acquisition of a birth certificate that the parentage of children, their age, and their place of birth can be recorded. These elements play a significant role in according nationality for children, and hence prevent statelessness.
It is in consideration of this fact that Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC/the African Children’s Charter) recognizes three interlinked rights and imposes an obligation on State Parties to take legislative measures to prevent statelessness among children. In order to clearly spell out and explain the obligations of State Parties in implementing the provision, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), in April 2013, adopted a General Comment (the General Comment) on this particular Article. This article briefly explains the reasons why the Committee decided to develop the General Comment and the major principles included in the General Comment.
Read the rest of this entry »