Harnessing Data for Human Rights and Sustainable Development: A Call to Action from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Posted: 23 January, 2025 Filed under: Hlengiwe Dube | Tags: abuse in data usage, accessible data, ACHPR, advancing human rights, Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, data access, digital age, digital transformation, discrimination, economic growth, education, election processes, gender equality, governance, harnessing data access, health, human progress, poverty eradication, Privacy Concerns, privacy violations, Resolution ACHPR/Res.620 (LXXXI) 2024, sustainable development, The Africa We Want, unequal access to information, United Nations’ SDGs 1 Comment
Author: Hlengiwe Dube
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
In a world increasingly shaped by the digital revolution, data has become one of the most valuable resources for economic growth, governance, and human progress. From enhancing public service delivery to promoting political participation, the transformative potential of data is undeniable. However, the rapid advancements in technology also bring significant challenges, including privacy concerns, unequal access to information, and the potential for abuse in data usage. Considering these complexities, during its 81st Ordinary Session in November 2024, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), adopted Resolution ACHPR/Res.620 (LXXXI) 2024, which seeks to promote and harness data access as a tool for advancing human rights and sustainable development in Africa.
Climate change and the 2024-2025 South Sudan National Budget Discourse: A call for the inclusion of climate adaptation budget
Posted: 15 July, 2024 Filed under: Justin Monyping Ater | Tags: adaptation strategies, climate adaptation, climate change, Climate change and the 2024-2025 South Sudan National Budget Discourse: A call for the inclusion of climate adaptation budget, climate mitigation, education, health, human rights, human rights treaties, national budget, national human rights frameworks, National Legislature, Paris Agreement, right to life, South Sudan, UNFCCC, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Leave a comment
Author: Justin Monyping Ater
Law lecturer, School of Law, University of Juba, South Sudan
Introduction
On 30 June 2024, the first Undersecretary of the National Ministry of Finance and Planning of South Sudan issued a public notice announcing the end of the ‘Fiscal Year 2023/2024’. The Undersecretary further noted that the:
‘Ministry of Finance and Planning will not receive new claims until the 2024/2025 Budget is passed by the National Legislature and assented into law’.
As indicated in the notice itself, whatever is contained in it, was to be effective immediately considering the date it was issued. This is because under section 15(5) of the Public Financial Management and Accountability Act, 2011:
‘The Financial Year shall cover a period of 12 months, which shall run from 1st July to 30th June each year’.
The National Migration Policy and its implementation framework: A precursor for a more effective migration governance in Nigeria
Posted: 30 October, 2015 Filed under: Uche Hilary-Ogbonna | Tags: access to education, disapora, health, human trafficking, IDP, implementation framework, international migration, legal frameworks, Mediterranean, migrant smuggling, migrants, Migrants and IDPs, migration, National Commission for Refugees, National Migration Policy, Nigeria, policy, refugees, rural-urban migration flows Leave a comment
Author: Uche Hilary-Ogbonna
Humanitarian Affairs Officer, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (UN OCHA) Abuja
Legal frameworks are the bedrock for any effective management system. They underscore the importance of articulating a set of aspirations in concise directives and regulations, offering guidance to the myriad of field operatives and interventions in the varied sectors of migration management, development or the society at large. For the migration sector in Nigeria, it has been a long, tough journey to the adoption of the National Migration Policy and its implementation framework. The Policy is widely considered a breakthrough piece of legal document which came to fruition on account of years of toil by a host of government functionaries, development actors, the academia and civil society organizations.
The Policy comes at a very important time in the global migratory scene with the rise in international migration across the Mediterranean resulting in multiple deaths. With over 170 million citizens, Nigeria is important in migration management as a country of origin, transit and destination for migrants. Nigeria faces challenges such as effective diaspora engagement and remittances, inter-regional, rural-urban migration flows, migration of highly skilled and unskilled labour, data generation, as well as trafficking in persons to mention a few.
No woman should die while giving life: Maternal mortality – the unfinished business of the MDG era
Posted: 21 July, 2015 Filed under: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn | Tags: abortion, access to education, Beijing Platform of Action, birth, CEDAW, childbearing, death, discrimination, family, family planning, fertility, health, marriage, maternal death, maternal health, maternal mortality, pregnancy, right to life, sexual and reproductive health rights, women's rights 2 Comments
Author: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn
Human rights lawyer, Ethiopia
Maternal mortality is one of the shocking failures of development and a dreadful social injustice. According to recent UN official figures, 536,000 women die every year during pregnancy and birth. This is one death every minute. Out of the 536,000 maternal deaths, 99% are experienced by women in developing countries. The highest maternal mortality rates are in Africa; with a lifetime risk of 1 in 16. Maternal death is often the result of policy decisions that directly or indirectly discriminate against women. Maternal death is also often an indication of inequalities between men and women in their enjoyment of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Below I illustrate how other rights are either implicated by or essential in combating maternal mortality.
Sexual violence against children: Are girls in Mozambique little angels or sex objects?
Posted: 15 June, 2015 Filed under: Michael Addaney | Tags: African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Child Assault Units, child marriages, child protsitution, child sexual abuse, Children and Social Affairs, Children’s Act of 2008, Children’s Court, constitution, Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC, cruel treatment, family, health, international human rights obligations, Juvenile Justice Act of 2008, Ministry of Gender, Mozambique, post-trauma counselling, rights and welfare of children., sexual violence, UNICEF, victims, violent 2 Comments
Author: Michael Addaney
Student (MPhil Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa), Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Global statistics indicate that child sexual abuse is increasing with an estimated 150 million girls and 73 million boys under the age of 18 having experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual abuse. According to the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Commission, one out of three girls in Sub-Saharan African experiences some form of sexual violence before the age of 18. In Mozambique alone, 33% of children between 12 and 15 years have been victims of sexual violence, one of the highest rates in the world.
Also, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) observes that child prostitution is a growing concern in Mozambique. The Mozambican Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Affairs links the increased sexual violence with the country’s failure in the realisation of the child’s right to education with an estimated 36% of girls aged between 13 and 18 years married instead of being in school.
This situation is also attributed to the Mozambican civil war which weakened institutions particularly those protecting the rights and welfare of children. Despite major sector-specific strategic frameworks to combat sexual violence against children, these are often done with little consultation and coordination. This has had a deleterious effect on the enforcement of children’s rights through the existing legal and institutional arrangements.
Meanwhile, Mozambique is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and all the relevant international human rights instruments. The domestic framework for addressing sexual violence against children includes the Children’s Act of 2008 and Juvenile Justice Act of 2008 which translate the CRC and the ACRWC into national child rights legislation.
Using human rights to combat unsafe abortion: What needs to be done?
Posted: 24 April, 2012 Filed under: Charles Ngwena | Tags: health, human rights, maternal mortality, United Nations, unsafe abortion, women 3 Comments
Author: Charles Ngwena
Professor of Law, University of the Free State, South Africa
The latest global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality bring no comfort to the African region. What is disconcerting about the estimates is not only that unsafe abortion continues to account for 13 per cent of maternal mortality, but also that, from a regional perspective, Africa’s share of unsafe abortion-related maternal mortality remains quite disproportionate. Africa stands out as the region least positioned to meet the Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015.
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