Does the ACHPR Really Get It?! Human Rights Defenders, African Values, and the Dangerous Drift Toward Normative Regression
Posted: 31 May, 2026 Filed under: Mai Aman | Tags: ACHPR, ACHPR’s Draft Declaration, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African values, anti-terror legislation, apartheid, authoritarianism, civic space, civil society actors, colonialism, community primacy, culture, digital surveillance frameworks, freedom of expression, Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa, hostile environments, human rights defenders, LGBTQ defenders, moral health of society, official panel discussion, protest rights, public-order laws, respect for institutions, restrictive NGO regulations, Sovereignty, state security, women human rights defenders Leave a comment
Author: Mai Aman
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Civil society organisations (CSOs) participating at the 87th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR/ the Commission), held in Banjul, the Gambia from 12 to 20 May 2026, were alarmed when discussions began emerging around a Draft Declaration on the Promotion of the Role of Human And Peoples’ Rights Defenders And their Protection In Africa. For many CSOs working directly on civic space, freedom of expression, protest rights and defender protection across the continent, this was the first time they had become aware that such a process was already underway within the Commission.
The concern was not simply procedural, although the limited consultation surrounding a Declaration of such potential normative significance immediately raised questions. Rather, alarm quickly grew once civil society actors were able to review the text itself. As the Draft Declaration began circulating during the session, organisations realised that, in its current form, the Declaration risked doing the exact opposite of what a Declaration on human rights defenders should do; instead of strengthening protections for defenders operating in increasingly hostile environments, the Draft Declaration appeared capable of legitimising the very frameworks already being used to repress them.
Gender and the Bifurcation of Paid and Unpaid Care Work
Posted: 14 November, 2024 Filed under: Sinqobile Makhathini | Tags: African Societies, Beijing +30, child-rearing, colonialism, cooking, domestic work, elder care, feminised poverty, formal employment, gender dynamics, gendered labour, International Day of Care and Support, low wages, paid employment, socio-economic factors, unpaid care work, voluntary community work 1 Comment
Author: Sinqobile Makhathini
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
The 29th October marked the International Day of Care and Support, and this year’s theme focused on transforming care systems to achieve Beijing +30. This occasion prompts us to critically examine the dynamics of gendered labour and the ongoing disparity between paid and unpaid care work in Southern Africa.
According to the United Nations, unpaid care work encompasses all unpaid services provided by individuals within a household or community to benefit its members. This includes activities like cooking, cleaning, collecting water and fuel, and caring for children, older persons, and individuals living with illnesses or disabilities. Voluntary community work, such as operating community kitchens or childcare services, also qualifies as unpaid care work.
The function of constitutional judges and judicial philosophy in Africa: Introduction to the special issue
Posted: 17 December, 2021 Filed under: Trésor Makunya | Tags: Africa, African legal systems, Babacar Kanté, colonialism, constitutional judges, constitutionalism, Gerard Niyungeko, Hajer Gueldich, Judge Albie Sachs, Judge Christine Schurmans, judicial philosophy, South African Constitutional Court, special issue Leave a comment
Author: Trésor Makunya Muhindo
Postdoctoral Fellow and Publications Coordinator, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
This special issue is devoted to the function of constitutional judges and judicial philosophy in Africa through the lens of Justice Albie Sachs’ judicial philosophy. It emerges from presentations made by speakers at the virtual book launch of the French translation of Albie Sachs’ book ‘The strange alchemy of life and law’ (2021) organised on 19 November 2021 by the Pretoria University Law Press.
This issue is divided into three main parts. In the first part, Judge Albie Sachs and Emmanuel De Groof provide the background to the translation of the book. The book aims at bridging the divide between the common law and civil law legal traditions that African legal systems inherited through colonialism. The divide between the two legal traditions is so great that it seems African lawyers and judges based in the common law tradition and those from the civil law tradition operate in a completely different world.
Some reflections on the harmonisation of business law in Francophone Africa and constitutionalism
Posted: 3 February, 2021 Filed under: Balingene Kahombo, Trésor Makunya | Tags: African Union, Benin, Burkina Faso, business law, colonialism, constitutionalism, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), economic interests, economy, finance, France, Francophone Africa, Free enterprise, French, Gabon, legal harmonisation, liberal approach, neo-colonialism, OAU, OHADA, private initiative, RECs, regional integration 1 Comment |
Author: Balingene Kahombo Professor of Public Law and African International Relations, Faculty of Law, University of Goma (Democratic Republic of Congo) |
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Author: Trésor M. Makunya Doctoral Candidate & Academic Associate, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
Context
The Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) is a supranational organisation established by the Treaty of Port-Louis of 17 October 1993 to standardise business legislation and regulation in Africa. It was believed that the creation of OHADA will attract foreign investors because its norms increase legal and judicial security and certainty. The imperfection, disparity and inaccessibility of existing business-related legal rules and judicial institutions were identified as major problems to address. The OHADA sought to combat the ‘backwardness’ of African business law by adopting legislation regulating different aspects of business, such as company law, simplified recovery procedures and enforcement measures, and labour law. These laws are known as uniform acts.
The right to happiness in Africa
Posted: 13 July, 2016 Filed under: Saul Leal | Tags: Africa, apartheid, Christopher Mbazira, colonialism, constitution, David Bilchitz, economic development, Egypt, employment, Frederick Fourie, freedom, Ghana, Justice Albie Sachs, Leopold Sadar Senghor, Liberia, liberty, Namibia, Nigeria, racism, right to happiness, right to life, safety, security, South Africa, Steve Biko, Stu Woolan, Swaziland 3 Comments
Author: Saul Leal
Vice-Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA)
Leopold Sedar Senghor said: emotion is African.[1] This emotion has been channeled to constitutions. Happiness is a core value in many African constitutions. It was explicitly mentioned in Liberia, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, Swaziland, and Egypt.
Article 1 of the Constitution of Liberia, 1986, proclaims that all free governments are instituted by the people’s authority, for their benefit, and they have the right to alter and reform it when their safety and ‘happiness’ require it.[2] The preamble of the Egyptian Constitution, 2014, cites ‘a place of common happiness for its people’. The Namibian Constitution, 1990, assures the right ‘to the pursuit of happiness’. In this regard, Frederick Fourie defends the preamble of the Namibian Constitution, explaining that it is coloured by the struggle against colonialism and racism; that it is built around the denial of the ‘right of the individual life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ by colonialism, racism and apartheid.[3]
AfricLaw 