Questions at the Interface Between Automated Decision Making, Administrative Law and Socio‑Economic Rights: The Example of Access to Affordable Housing in Kenya
Posted: 18 March, 2022 Filed under: Alexander Beyleveld | Tags: Access to Affordable Housing, ADM, ADM technologies, administrative law, Affordable Homes Program, automated decision-making, automated processing, constitutional law, CRD System, data protection legislation, freedom from discrimination, fundamental rights, Kenya Data Protection Act, policy framework, right to equality 1 Comment
Author: Alexander Beyleveld
Senior Researcher at the Mandela Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
A number of African governments have begun to integrate automated decision-making (ADM) into processes that give effect to fundamental rights, which has given rise to a number of interesting questions about the manner in which different areas of law interact in ADM contexts. ADM has thus far been most directly regulated by data protection legislation, such as the Kenya Data Protection Act (KDPA). Automated decisions, however, also implicate administrative law, and constitutionally enshrined rights related to administrative action. An additional layer of complexity is added in situations where automated decisions form part of the process governments have elected to use to give effect to fundamental rights, especially when a number of different rights are implicated. Understanding the interface between ADM, data protection laws, administrative law and constitutional law, then, will only continue to grow in importance in assessing the extent to which governments are giving effect to certain fundamental rights – as well as for assessing the extent to which governments and individuals are actually reaping the potential benefits of ADM technologies in the first place.
Marital rape as a human rights violation of women in Ethiopia: a case study of Alumni association of the faculty of law of Addis Ababa University and Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA)
Posted: 15 March, 2022 Filed under: Kebkab Sirgew Gelaw | Tags: domestic violence, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, EWLA, fundamental rights, government, legal standing, legal system, marital rape, marriage, psychological effects, rape, rejection, sexual distress Leave a comment
Author: Kebkab Sirgew Gelaw
International Human Rights Lawyer
The concept of rape of a woman by her husband in marriage was not a transgression at all because a man was allowed to treat ‘his chattel as he deemed appropriate’; thus, women who were forced to have sex in their marriage did not even have the option of seeking criminal prosecution.[1] The first marital rape case to reach the US court system took place in 1978 in New Jersey, when Daniel Morrison was found guilty of raping his estranged wife. Six months later, in Oregon, John Rideout became the first husband charged with rape while living with his wife.[2] Rideout was acquitted and brought attention to the concept that rape can exist within the context of marriage.
Many states in the US including Minnesota at that time defended forced sexual intercourse committed by a man against a woman and not his wife; though there have been subsequent prosecutions of marital rape, but in general, the cases were charged to win, primary because the question of consent is clouded by societal beliefs about marriage.[3]
To be a healthy democratic state, Ethiopia needs Stability through Peace and Security, Inclusive Development, and Good Governance.
Posted: 5 October, 2021 Filed under: Henok Kebede | Tags: Abiy Ahmed, bad governance, corruption, democracy, economic development, economic growth, Ethiopia, ethnic violence, extreme politics, extreme poverty, fundamental rights, inclusive development, internal displacement, peace, peace and security, polarised identity, political uncertainties, political violence, poor infrastructure, respect for human rights, rule of law, security and stability, social development, socio-economic demand, Tigrian elites Leave a comment
Author: Henok Kebede
Lecturer, School of Law at Hawassa University, Ethiopia
Ethiopia is at a crossroads. Despite recorded double-digit economic growth for more than a decade, the arguably slight opening of the political space and the increasing awareness of citizens about their rights and duties, the absence of a clear path to democracy through an institutionally designed system put Ethiopia at the crossroad. Though Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to reform Ethiopia’s authoritarian state, recently, Ethiopia is going through a hysterical period of political uncertainties whereby one cannot easily venture where the country is heading. Some suggested that Ethiopia is on the right track to democracy, and Abiy Ahmed is playing the dominant role. Others reject the idea that Ethiopia is getting into democracy, saying the reform government is just as undemocratic as its predecessors; it is instead an ‘old wine in a new bottle’.
Happiness and same-sex affection
Posted: 22 April, 2016 Filed under: Saul Leal | Tags: autonomy of will, Brazil, Chinelo Okparanta, Civil Code, constitution, fundamental rights, gay, happiness, homo-affectionate, hope of happiness, human dignity, Justice Celso de Mello, Justice Luiz Fux, love, Nigeria, prejudice, privacy, protection of the right to life, right to equal protection under the law, right to happiness, same-sex affection, same-sex couples, same-sex marriage, sexual discrimination, sexual minorities, United States Declaration of Independence 3 Comments
Author: Saul Leal
Vice-Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA)
Chinelo Okparanta is a Nigerian writer, currently living as a citizen in the United States. She understands the prejudices of her native country, especially against homosexuals. In some parts of Nigeria, a gay individual may be stoned to death under the Shari’a law. Okparanta writes, in her lesbian romance Happiness like Water, ‘yes, our love may be hidden, but it is strong. It can still bring happiness’.[1]
Why must the love between two consenting adults be hidden? Should the State have the power to decide towards whom one may show affection? These disconcerting questions may be answered in terms of global Constitutions.
The most important Brazilian decision which entailed the right to happiness was in 2011.[2] The Supreme Court had to rule on the interpretation to be given to article 1.723 of the Civil Code, which only recognizes a common-law relationship between a man and a woman as a family unit which must be public knowledge, continuous, and long-lasting, and be established for the purpose of building a family. The need for the aforementioned ruling resulted from the fact that government bodies refused to grant these rights to homo-affectionate couples. Therefore, the Court had to decide if this union also covered same-sex couples, even though the provision expressly mentions ‘man and a woman’.[3]
AfricLaw 