The Right to Consent: Reimagining Sexual Autonomy for Persons with Disabilities in Zimbabwe through S v Zidyengi
Posted: 18 October, 2024 Filed under: Neville Mupita | Tags: consensual relationship, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, disability rights, equal recognition, equality, expert evidence, High Court judgment, human rights, inclusion, mental capacity, mentally incompetent adults, persons with disabilities, psychosis diagnosis, right to autonomy, right to dignity, rights of persons with mental disabilities, S v Zidyengi, sexual autonomy, sexual choices, sexual conduct, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe High Court 1 Comment
Author: Neville Mupita
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
On 17 July 2024, the Zimbabwe High Court handed a landmark judgment in the case of S v Zidyengi that addresses a key interplay between mental disability and sexual autonomy. This judgment poses a topic of importance under the framework of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This piece uses a human rights-based approach to analyse the High Court judgment within the CRPD’s yardstick.
The opposite sex for the intersex person; assumption of binary in Kenya’s Constitution
Posted: 13 October, 2023 Filed under: Esther-Blessing Nasimiyu | Tags: binary assumption, Constitution of Kenya, equality, inclusion, intersex, intersex persons, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, non-discrimination, opposite sex, protection of minorities, right to marry, same-sex marriages, sexual minorities 1 Comment
Author: Esther-Blessing Nasimiyu
Student, Kabarak Law School
The 2010 Constitution of Kenya is notable for recognising the family system through the provision of the right to marry in article 45(2).[1] For ease of reference, article 45(2) provides that every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, based on the free consent of parties. The sub-article’s phrasing breeds a significant complication due to the insertion of the term ‘opposite sex’. This is a blatant disregard of the existence of Kenyan adults who cannot conform to either gender due to being intersex.
Making policy changes on the domestic level: a critical exposition of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Posted: 9 February, 2021 Filed under: Oludayo Olufowobi | Tags: affirmative action, charity approach, Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, disability, Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, domestic level, economic empowerment, human rights, inclusion, inclusivity, infrastructural deficits, legislation, Nigeria, poverty, PWDs, SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations Leave a comment
Author: Oludayo Olufowobi
Law student, University of Lagos
Fifteen percent of the world population experience some form of disability, with between 110 million and 190 million people experiencing significant disabilities. Persons with disabilities are more susceptible to experiencing more adverse socio-economic or living conditions compared to others. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) aims to bridge this gap. At the domestic level, persons with disabilities are most times subjected to live as second-class citizens. Discriminatory practices in our society and deficits in inclusive infrastructure exacerbate this problem. It is against this premise that this article seeks to explore the peculiarities of the Nigerian landscape, taking into account its plaguing insecurity, infrastructural deficits, and lapses in the protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities. There is a focus on the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition Act) 2018 vis-a-vis the government’s quest to realise the objectives of the CRPD.
A call for an adequate legal and institutional framework in the protection and inclusion of children with mental/ developmental disabilities in Nigeria
Posted: 30 January, 2020 Filed under: Busayo Oladapo | Tags: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, disabilities, discrimination, full rights, inclusion, mental/ developmental disabilities, Nigeria, protection Leave a comment
Author: Busayo Oladapo
Kenna Partners Associate, Nigeria
According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), between 93 and 150 million children live with a disability worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also reports that there are 7 million children with disabilities in Nigeria. With the emergence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006, the scope of disabilities has expanded to include persons with mental, intellectual or sensory impairments. Despite the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which reiterate the inalienable rights of children, children with disabilities and their families all over the world are continually confronted with daily challenges that compromise the enjoyment of their human rights, Nigeria inclusive. With the global rise in the number of children with developmental disabilities, the implication is that in the coming years, a significant number of young adults globally would be individuals with one form of mental/ development disability or the other. Therefore, it is imperative for state parties to be more intentional about the protection and inclusion of children with developmental/mental disabilities for better integration into the society.
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