War, global health and human rights: drawing inspiration from the Russia-Ukraine crisis
Posted: 22 March, 2022 Filed under: Abasiodiong Ubong Udoakpan | Tags: access to health, clean water, displacement, emergency interventions, food, health care, health infrastructure, human rights, mental health, physical health, psychological well-being, regional conflict, Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russian invasion, sanitation, threat to life, United Nations, war 1 Comment
Author: Abasiodiong Ubong Udoakpan
Data Protection Advisor, Researcher and a Human Rights Lawyer
Introduction
The first principle of health is life and war is a direct threat to life. For millions of people worldwide, avoiding and not only surviving war is the predominant objective in their daily existence. Sadly, the situation in Eastern Europe creates a global crisis for public health, therefore, ending the war would be a major step towards the promotion of the health and well-being of persons in this region. The challenge presented by this ongoing regional conflict also marks a crucial opportunity to prioritize human rights and public health concerns in ongoing foreign policy and diplomatic efforts by concerned nation-states. Ergo, this article seeks to explore the human rights threats that are associated with the Russia-Ukraine conflict especially as it relates to public health.
The role of African governments in the implementation of the Revised Declaration on freedom of expression online in Africa
Posted: 24 November, 2021 Filed under: Ayowole Olotupa-Adetona, Bitebo Gogo, Imani Henrick, Ogah Peter Ejegwoya | Tags: Access to Information, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, domestic laws, freedom of expression, freedom of expression online, human rights, illegitimate restrictions, international human rights standards, Legal reform, multistakeholderism, online content regulation, privacy protection, Regulating online content, right to opinion 4 Comments
Authors: Imani Henrick, Bitebo Gogo, Ogah Peter Ejegwoya & Ayowole Olotupa-Adetona
The rights to freedom of expression, access to information and opinion are three distinct yet interconnected rights. The right to freedom of expression includes overt or covert communication through any medium including the Internet while access to information is being able to get information through any means. Both rights can be limited under international human rights standards. However, the right to opinion which is broader than both rights cannot be limited under international human rights standards.
This article identifies the role of African governments in implementing freedom of expression online. In doing so, it focuses on the provisions of the recent Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (Revised Declaration) 2019.
A quest for better protection: Sudanese women today
Posted: 11 November, 2021 Filed under: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn | Tags: (VAWG), African Protocol on Women’s Rights, arbitrarily arrest, CEDAW, child custody, child marriage, conflict areas, displacement, divorce, human rights, immoral behavior, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Islamic fundamentalists, Jebril Ibrahim, knee length skirts, lack of protection, marriage, Muslim Personal Law, Political commitment, public disgrace, Public Order Police Officers, sexual abuse, sharia law, social media, Sudan, tribal and militia violence, Violence Against Women Act, Violence against Women and Girls, wearing trousers, women rights violations Leave a comment
Author: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn
Human Rights Lawyer and Gender equality advocate
Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) is regarded as a prevalent and critical hindering factor for human development and peace-building in Sudan. Prior to the revolution, Sudanese women used to face a daily risk of being arbitrarily arrested in public or private places for “indecent or immoral behavior or dress.” Public Order Police Officers in Sudan had the power to decide what is decent and what is not. In most cases women are arrested for wearing trousers or knee length skirts.[1] Though in 2019, the transitional Sudanese government rescinded the public order laws that governed women’s presence in public spaces, resulting in arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment, Sudan still needs to change other aspects of the public order regime that has a discriminatory effect on women.
Sudan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Though the Sudanese government approved the ratification of CEDAW and the African Protocol on Women’s Rights following years of demands from Sudanese women, the ratification of CEDAW came with reservations on the articles number 2, 16 and 1/29, which is a clear violation of the rule that prevents reservations that defeat the essential elements and goals of human rights covenants.
Towards eradicating female genital mutilation in Nigeria
Posted: 3 September, 2021 Filed under: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn | Tags: abuse, abuse of women, Africa, child marriage, clitoris, cultural relativism, domestic violence, federal law, female genital mutilation, fgm, FGM/C, fistula, GBV, gender-based violence, Harmful practices, harmful traditional practices, human rights, indigenous areas, international call, maternal mortality, Nigeria, protection, psychological violence, sexual violence, socioeconomic violence, traditional circumcisers, Type II, vagina, violence, women's rights Leave a commentAuthor: Dunia Mekonnen Tegegn
Human Rights Lawyer and Gender equality advocate
Nigeria is home to over 180 million people, 49.4% of whom are female. Along with the rest of the population, the Nigerian female population will experience dramatic increases in size by 2050. As far as violence against women is concerned, federal law addresses sexual violence, physical violence, psychological violence, harmful traditional practices, and socio-economic violence. The law also cites spousal battery, forceful ejection from the home, forced financial dependence or economic abuse, harmful widowhood practices, female genital mutilation/cutting (“FGM/C”), other harmful traditional practices, substance attacks (such as acid attacks), political violence, and violence by state actors (especially government security forces) as offenses.
A 2019 survey on domestic violence found that 47% of respondents had suffered from domestic violence or knew someone who had; 82% of respondents indicated that violence against women was prevalent in the country. Police often refused to intervene in domestic disputes or blamed the victim for provoking the abuse. In rural areas, courts, and police were reluctant to intervene to protect women who formally accused their husbands of abuse if the level of alleged abuse did not exceed local customary norms.
Child marriages in Zimbabwe and the failure by the State to fulfil its obligations to protect the rights of children
Posted: 26 August, 2021 Filed under: Nqobani Nyathi | Tags: ACERWC, Africa, African Commission, child marriage, child marriages, children's rights, Committee of Experts on the Rights of the Child, constitution, Constitution of Zimbabwe, discrimination, gender inequality, girl child, human rights, Maputo Protocol, Marriage Act, Marriages Bill, provisions, religion, religious justification, religious sects, reproductive health, rights of children, rule of law, sexual rights, SRHR, women's rights, Zimbabwe 1 Comment
Author: Nqobani Nyathi
Researcher, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Introduction
Recently, there have been reports about a 14-year old child who died during childbirth. The reason why such a tragedy happened and may continue to happen is the State’s failure or unwillingness to eradicate child marriages. This article seeks to outline Zimbabwe’s legislative framework regarding child marriages and its obligations in terms of international law.
The legal position
Child marriage is illegal in Zimbabwe as held by Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court. In January 2016, the apex court rightly found that the legislative provisions legalising child marriages were inconsistent with the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The Constitution has fairly strong provisions promoting and protecting the rights of children, including the right to be protected from sexual exploitation or any form of abuse. The Court also observed that historically there has been a “lack of common social consciousness on the problems of girls who became victims of early marriages.”
The fact that child marriages had to be declared illegal through litigation exposes this lack of common social consciousness. Zimbabwe had been clinging to the archaic law legalising the marriage of children in terms of both the Marriage Act 81 of 1964 and the Customary Marriages Act 23 of 1950.
Why Angola should ratify the African Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Beyond the legal imperative
Posted: 11 August, 2021 Filed under: Eduardo Kapapelo | Tags: Africa, African Disability Rights Protocol, African Protocol on the rights of Persons with Disabilities, Angola, ‘shellshock’, civil war, constitutional law, disability, disability rights, human rights, human rights violations, intellectual disabilities, Kalashnikov, military casualties, post-conflict, post-conflict state, psychological, psychology, PTSD, rule of law, shellshock, social norms, Sudan, Syria, trauma, Vietnam, violence, violent conflict, war, World War II, Yemen Leave a comment
Author: Eduardo Kapapelo
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
One of the main objectives of international and regional law is to ensure the widest scope of human rights and welfare. It has been reasoned that when the physical and mental health of individuals is promoted and safeguarded societies have a better chance of establishing peaceful societies in the aftermath of violent conflict.
Some of the earliest literature has identified that a significant proportion of military casualties are psychological. Such literature which has focused heavily from the perspective of soldiers who have had to fight and ultimately kill on the battlefield to a large extent neglected to adopt a wider scope – to include the civilian population who often receives the brunt of such violence in war-time.
Reflecting on the South Sudan we want: 10 years on after independence
Posted: 23 July, 2021 Filed under: Joseph Geng Akech | Tags: 10 years, accountability, Armed Struggle, Commission for Truth, Compensation and Reparation Authority, conflict, constitutional democracy, corruption, dream nation, human rights, inclusive, independence, justice, liberty, non-violent, peace, pluralistic, prosperity, Reconciliation and Healing, rule of law, silencing the guns, South Sudan, South Sudan we want, SPLM/A, Sudan, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, underdevelopment, war 2 Comments
Author: Joseph Geng Akech
South Sudanese human rights lawyer and LLD candidate, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Summary
New nations struggle to find their route to stability, and they have the opportunity to learn from those which have already travelled the path towards nation-building. The birth of South Sudan was received with joy, far and wide, as it emerged out of decades of sacrifices for principles that every South Sudanese believe in – justice, liberty and prosperity. The hard-won new State was born with much hope, but it rapidly became a monster of its own making. Consumed by senseless wars, endemic corruption and underdevelopment – iniquities which fomented popular resistance and drove the need for secession.
How would international human rights law deal with a potentially automized future?
Posted: 20 July, 2021 Filed under: Eduardo Kapapelo | Tags: algorithms, artificial intelligence technologies, autonomous weapons systems, aws, ‘self-aware’ autonomous weapons, Christof Heyns, Future Combat System Project, human rights, Human Rights Council, humanitarian law, law, legal, LGBTI, self-aware, targeted surveillance, Terminator 3 1 CommentAuthor: Eduardo Kapapelo
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Introduction
In a scene from Jonathan Mostow’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the ‘Terminator’ played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, ‘Cybernet has become self-aware’. While the context of such words are within a scripted science fiction world, they nevertheless seem to be echoes of a futures we seem to be writing – whether willingly or not.
While Mostow’s ‘killer robots’ or ‘terminators’ – are essentially autonomous weapons systems sent through time to kill a person seems farfetched and squarely within the realm of science fiction, perhaps it is not life imitating art, but art imitating life. The United States Future Combat System Project which aimed to manufacture a ‘robot army’ seems to have hinted that the future might not be as fictitious as we think.
The promises and limitations of law in guaranteeing freedom in Africa: The right to a Revolution
Posted: 30 June, 2021 Filed under: Eduardo Kapapelo | Tags: African Charter, Christof Heyns, crimes against humanity, democratic order, dictatorial governments, fair elections, genocide, human rights, human rights violations, international crimes, Lome Declaration against unconstitutional changes of government, peace and security, political violence, post-indepedence, recourse, revolution, State violence, struggle approach, violence Leave a commentAuthor: Eduardo Kapapelo
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
One of the main objectives of international and regional law is to maintain peace and security. It has been reasoned that where there is peace and security, humanity stands a better chance to protect individual rights and freedoms. On account of the importance of peace and security at national, regional and international level, States agreed to criminalize those who engage in violent conduct or seek to change governments through the use of violent force. Yet, is it a coincidence that in many dictatorial governments with atrocious human rights records, opposition leaders are often charged of attempting to unconstitutionally change the government of the day? This contribution seeks to discuss the right to a just-revolution and how existing laws promise freedoms but is limited in delivery when it comes to dictatorial governments. In this contribution, a just-revolution is defined as a revolution to overthrow a government of the day whose rule is characterised by gross human rights violations or international crimes such as crimes against humanity and genocide. Do citizens have a right to a just-revolution?
African countries need to ensure that the health of refugees is protected during the COVID-19 pandemic
Posted: 21 June, 2021 Filed under: Omotunde Enigbokan | Tags: accessing healthcare, Africa, African Commission, coronavirus, COVID-19, gender-based violence, government, health care, health services, human rights, pandemic, refugees, status, UN, UNHCR, vaccination, women, World Health Organisation, World Refugee Day Leave a comment
Author: Omotunde Enigbokan
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
The protection of the right to health for refugees in Africa requires urgent attention, especially in this period when evidence shows that new variants of the coronavirus are spreading. As we celebrate World Refugee Day on 20 June 2021, and against the backdrop of the UNHCR’s theme ‘Together we heal, learn and shine’, it is pertinent that we interrogate how African countries are ensuring that the right to health for refugees, is guaranteed. This is particularly important with the development of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, and in the onset of the administration of these vaccines in Africa.
Challenges faced by refugees in Africa
Existing research underlines the need for heightening refugees’ access to health facilities. Research further shows that refugees have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. This situation is further compounded by the fact that many refugees live in overpopulated camps or reception centres, where they lack adequate access to health services, clean water and sanitation. This makes them more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19.
AfricLaw 