Struggles and Triumphs: A close look at sexual and gender minority rights in Benin
Posted: 28 November, 2023 Filed under: Lakshita Kanhiya | Tags: Benin, bodily harm, discrimination, Freedom House Report, fundamental rights, gender minorities, harassment, human rights, national unity, non-discrimination, same-sex relations, sexual and gender minority rights, sexual assault, social stigma, violence, Working Group on Benin’s Universal Periodic Review Leave a comment
Author: Lakshita Kanhiya
Human Rights Advocate
The Republic of Benin has long been considered a beacon of democracy in West Africa.[1] However, between 2016 to 2021, the country witnessed a concerning regression in human rights, as noted in the Freedom House Report of 2021.[2] Benin transitioned from a ‘free state’ to a ‘partly free state’ during this period, in terms of its democratic credentials. Despite this regression, Benin has taken significant strides in protecting the rights of sexual and gender minorities,[3] marking a notable contrast to its neighbouring countries namely Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria.
Lives at stake: Religion, death penalty, and the rights of sexual and gender minorities in Africa
Posted: 21 November, 2023 Filed under: Lakshita Kanhiya | Tags: Africa, Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, capital punishment, death penalty, discrimination, harassment, human rights, ICCPR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, international human rights law, moral values, religion, religious missionaries, same-sex consensual relations, sexual and gender minority rights, societal stigma, torture, violence 1 CommentAuthor: Lakshita Kanhiya
Human Rights Advocate
The African continent presents a complex landscape for the protection of human rights, where various issues intersect, including capital punishment, sexual and gender minority rights, and the influence of religion. One of the most alarming and dire challenges in this regard is the imposition of the death penalty on sexual and gender minorities,[1] a practice that fundamentally contradicts human rights principles, including the right to life and the prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.[2]
The Maputo Protocol: Abolitionist or tolerative approach to polygamy, in the light of Ethiopia’s reservation?
Posted: 21 August, 2023 Filed under: Meron Eshetu Birhanu | Tags: Article 650, Criminal Code, cultural norms, Ethiopia, human rights, imprisonment, lack of legal protection, Maputo Protocol, Maputo Protocol Ratification Proclamation, monogamy, polygamous marriage, polygamy, polygamy belt, religious laws, religious norms, Revised Family Code, social norms, traditional practices, women’s rights 1 Comment
Author: Meron Eshetu Birhanu
Technical Assistant, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
Despite growing modernity and advocacy for women’s rights, polygamy remains a common practice embraced by social, cultural, and religious norms[1] in most parts of Africa, including Ethiopia. The highest proportion of polygamy in Africa is found in the so-called ‘polygamy belt’, which spans from Senegal in West Africa to Tanzania in East Africa.[2] According to the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 11 percent of married women in Ethiopia are in polygamous relationships, of which 9 percent have one co-wife and 2 percent have two or more co-wives.[3]
‘Afrofuturism’, Pop Culture & Mainstreaming TWAIL
Posted: 13 July, 2023 Filed under: Adithya Variath | Tags: academic exploration, Afrofuturism, Black Panther, hierarchical problems, human rights, imperialism, international law, Karal Vašák, nanotechnology, political legitimacy, popular culture, technology, theoretical frameworks, TWAIL Leave a comment
Author: Adithya Variath
Assistant Professor, Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai, India
Despite Africa’s growing geopolitical significance, its under-representation and under-participation in the discourse of international law-making is a paradox. The absence of local contexts and an indigenous approach to law has been bedevilling the culture of academic exploration and human rights law research in third-world countries. For the first world global academic circle, any effort to provide an alternative structure (like TWAIL or Afrofuturism) face hostility and resistance from European counterparts. This is also because imperialism, as a post-colonial leftover of defining the context and content of international law has penetrated the understanding and pedagogies of human rights law in Africa.
Impact of artificial intelligence on effective judicial protection
Posted: 26 June, 2023 Filed under: Jackeline Maribel Payé Salazar | Tags: access to justice, AI technology, AI-based programmes, algorithms, Artificial intelligence, automated court decisions, challenges, civil jurisdiction, COMPAS software, human rights, judge-robot systems, judicial protection, justice administration systems, predictable justice, regulatory frameworks Leave a comment
Author: Jackeline Maribel Payé Salazar
Lawyer
Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) makes a significant contribution to achieving timely and predictable justice. However, it is necessary to analyze the challenges that its use represents for the right to effective judicial protection. This right includes not only the right of people to access the courts of justice and to obtain a judicial decision in a reasonable period of time but also the right to obtain a decision duly motivated. This supposes that judicial decisions have to express the reasons on which they are based. In this sense, the author asks: is it possible to sufficiently guarantee the right to effective judicial protection if we use expert systems based on AI? What are the benefits of AI in the justice administration system? What is the “dark side” of AI? What are its limits, from the perspective of the right to effective judicial protection?
Senegal’s future hangs in the balance – #GardonsLesYeuxSurLeSénégal, West Africa’s longest-standing democracy!
Posted: 12 June, 2023 Filed under: Nyasha Mcbride Mpani, Uncategorized | Tags: Afrobarometer, civil rights, civil society organisations, constitutional term limits, death threats, democracy, democratic change, freedom of expression, human rights, injustice, one-man rule, one-party rule, rape, repression, Senegal, use of force, violent demonstrations, youth corruption Leave a comment
Author: Nyasha Mcbride Mpani
Southern African project leader, Data for Governance Alliance
While the world is still grappling with the complexities arising from power struggles in Sudan, with two warlords vying for control, the situation in Senegal has added to the mounting problems on the African continent. Since February 2021, Ousmane Sonko, the leader of the Senegalese opposition, has faced charges of rape and of sending death threats. However, what started as a legal matter seems to have turned into a politically charged trial. Unfolding events have revealed a deeply troubling pattern of repression and injustice in Senegal.
Read the rest of this entry »Where to Zimbabwe? Another stage set for flawed elections under Mnangagwa’s leadership
Posted: 3 April, 2023 Filed under: Nqobani Nyathi | Tags: accountability, African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, amendment of the Constitution, by-elections, constitution, Constitution of Zimbabwe, democracy, electoral disputes, Emmerson Mnangagwa, free and fair elections, government-affiliated media, Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa, human rights, Luke Malaba, peaceful resolution, Private Voluntary Organisations Bill, PVO Bill, rise to power, unlawful killings, violence, ZEC, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission 1 Comment
Author: Nqobani Nyathi
Doctoral Candidate and Project Officer, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
In 2018, and perhaps at the peak of his popularity, Emmerson Mnangagwa narrowly won a disputed Presidential election in Zimbabwe. In the aftermath, chaos ensued, and soldiers shot and killed people. No one has been held accountable so far, perpetuating an environment of impunity and fear. Mnangagwa’s unconstitutional rise to power the previous year had subverted democracy and as predicted, he has continuously demonstrated an unsettling disregard for the Constitution and the principles of democracy. Zimbabwe’s next general election is scheduled for some time this year, on a date yet to be announced. If Mnangagwa persists on his current path of undermining the Constitution, the election could lack the legitimacy necessary for a functioning democracy.
Freedom of expression and combating terrorism in Mozambique: the challenge of enacting laws in a context of conflict
Posted: 6 February, 2023 Filed under: Dércio Tsandzana | Tags: Countering Terrorism, data protection, disappearance of journalists, false news, freedom of expression, freedom of press, fundamental freedoms, human rights, international human rights standards, Mozambique, Social Communications Law, terrorism 1 Comment
Author: Dércio Tsandzana
Researcher / Professor of political science at Eduardo Mondlane University
- Introduction
This article analyses two laws that are undermining freedom of expression (and freedom of press) in the context of conflict in Mozambique. The first is the proposed Law of Communications that intends to review the press law[1] and the second is a law aimed at fighting terrorism in Mozambique.[2] Both were proposed at a time when Mozambique has been experiencing ongoing armed conflict in Northern Mozambique since October 2017.[3] Since then, several cases of human rights violations, imprisonment and disappearance of journalists have been reported.[4] On 29 October 2022, a Mozambican journalist was forcibly disappeared in Cabo Delgado – he had been arrested while in the course of his trade.[5] Thus, the approval of new laws in contexts of military tension may not only undermine freedom of expression in the country, but can also violate human rights in general. It is necessary to understand what impact these laws may have on the respect for freedom of expression and how they can affect the way information is disseminated in the context of conflict, where the spread of false news tends to increase.[6]
A critique of the Resolution (PAP-Res. 06(VI)/06) and Recommendation (PAP-Rec. 08(VI)/06) of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) on migration in Africa.
Posted: 14 November, 2022 Filed under: Eva Abugabe | Tags: Africa, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, African migrants, AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons, dangerous journeys, demographic distributions, governance, human rights, IDPs, international human rights instruments, International Organisation for Migration, Kampala Convention, Mediterranean Sea, migration, Pan-African Parliament, PAP, PAP-Rec. 08(VI)/06, PAP-Res. 06(VI)/06, SADC, Southern African Development Community, Sub-Saharan African countries, unapproved avenues, xenophobia 1 Comment
Author: Eva Abugabe
MPhil candidate, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Introduction
The PAP[1] in its sixth session of the First Parliament in 2006 resolved to ending migration in Africa.[2] Based on PAP-Rec(08(VI)06), the PAP acknowledged migration as a regional priority due to increasing refugee crisis, migrant remittances, movement of labour, the African Diaspora and brain drain, feminisation of migration, xenophobia and human trafficking.[3] In PAP-Res (06(VI)06), the PAP furthermore demanded continuous agenda setting in its debate, regional and national collaborations in learning best practices including encouraging governments to address the challenges by observing good governance and promoting investment in economies, infrastructure and creating employment.[4]
The article[5] critically analyses the PAP’s resolutions and recommendations against regional and international human rights instruments. It aims to position the PAP as an active protector of human rights while making it more visible to Africans, its primary constituents. Its thrust is to also evoke deliberate interventions and broadly contribute to the actualisation of the Africa We Want Agenda, Agenda 2063[6] and to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[7] specifically target 10.7 of Goal 10.[8]
AfricLaw 
Right to participate and citizenship: Liberians yearn for an inclusive vote in 2023
Posted: 6 January, 2023 | Author: AfricLaw | Filed under: Uncategorized, Urias Teh Pour | Tags: 2023, African Charter on Democracy, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Alien and Nationality Act of 1973, citizenship, civil war, Elections and Good Governance, Gabriel Shumba and Others, General Comment 25, human rights, Human Rights Committee, inclusive vote, Liberia, migrant workers, Mtikila v Tanzania, New Elections Law, refugees, Right to participate, right to vote, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties | 1 CommentExecutive Director, Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR), Liberia
For the first time in the political history of Liberia, Liberians in the diaspora are making a strong case for their inclusion in the 2023 general and presidential elections. This call has come at the time when the Alien and Nationality Act of 1973 which prohibited dual nationality has been amended. The amended Act, Alien Nationality Law of 2022, provides that ‘any person who acquires another in addition to his or her Liberian citizenship shall not [be] deemed to have relinquished his or her Liberian citizenship.’
The passage of this law led to a wave of calls for the democratisation of electoral politics, considering the huge population of Liberians living abroad and their aspiration to participate in elections to elect their leaders at home. The Liberia Demographic Survey of 2021 projected Liberia’s population at 5.18 million. There are approximately 1.2 million Liberians and people with Liberian heritage scattered all over the globe, with the majority living and referring to the United States as their home. Some statisticians have predicted that the on-going population and housing census would exceed the projected number.
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