The struggle for prisoners’ voting rights: Analysing the constitutional right to dignity and sovereignty in Kenya
Posted: 18 November, 2024 Filed under: Uday Makokha Keya | Tags: Bill of Rights, democracy, dignity, electoral justice system, equity, fundamental freedoms, general elections, human rights, IEBC, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Kenya, principles of governance, prisoner`s right to vote, right to dignity, right to vote, Sovereignty, voting rights Leave a comment
Author: Uday Makokha Keya
Third-year law student, Kabarak University
The values on sovereignty of the people, asserted in the constitution of Kenya, imposes on the state the duty to protect, promote and fulfil citizen`s right to elect their representatives as a way of exercising their sovereignty. This right should therefore be achieved through guaranteeing citizens the right to register as voters and, consequently, to elect their leaders. The constitution provides that, every person has a right without unreasonable restriction to be registered as a voter.[1] Therefore, any limitation to the right to vote, has to be necessary,[2] and in accordance to the law.[3] The case of Kituo Cha Sharia V IEBC & 2 Others, affirmed prisoner`s right to vote and elect their representatives linking their right to vote to their dignity, and the exercise of their sovereignty.[4] To guarantee the right to vote to prisoners, they should have equally been provided with the right to register as voters and, to consequently vote in every election cycles.
The right to health, dignity and the plight of pregnant women in Rural Malawi
Posted: 11 November, 2024 Filed under: Golda Chilembwe Rapozo | Tags: access to healthcare, adequate health services, core human rights, degrading treatment, International Covenant on Economic, Malawian health department, maternal health, maternal mortality, medical services, poor infrastructure, pregnant women, right to dignity, right to health, running water, Rural Malawi, Social and Cultural Rights Leave a comment
Author: Golda Chilembwe Rapozo
LLM candidate, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
The right to health and dignity during childbirth
Malawi still experiences one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 5.7 deaths for every 1000 live births. Poor infrastructure and service conditions mar the maternal experience for women living in rural Malawi. The right to give birth in a dignified manner for women in Malawi is constantly violated. Women are either forced to give birth at home or on their way to health centres due to long distances and poor road infrastructure. In most cases, health centres are located 25 kilometres away, and there are few affordable transportation systems save for bicycles. If they are lucky enough to get to the hospital, they will either have to share beds or sleep on the floor with their newborn babies. In certain instances, these women are even required to bring their own sanitary kits and are subjected to facilities without electricity or running water. In addition, some rural health centres lack trained personnel to provide the necessary care to pregnant women. Not only does this treatment violate their rights, but it also violates the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
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.
Constitutional jurisdiction and the right to happiness
Posted: 1 April, 2016 Filed under: Saul Leal | Tags: Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction, Community Law Centre, constitution, Constitutional Court, Council of Censors, Delft, fundamental right, Greatest Happiness principle, Hans Kelsen, happiness, individualism, Joshua Greene, judiciary, Langa, law, normative acts, right to dignity, right to happiness, utilitarian doctrine 7 Comments
Author: Saul Leal
Vice-Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA)
Should it be a role of the Judiciary to assure happiness for the people? Is it appropriate for a Constitutional Court to consider happiness to be a right? Does the establishment of fundamental rights expand the collective happiness? To answer these questions, it is essential to examine the root of Constitutional jurisdiction.
Karl Loewenstein questioned whether the Constitution would be “instrumental for the pursuit of happiness of the people”,[1] based on his intrigue into the purpose and meaning of a Constitution. He is accompanied by Hans Kelsen, for whom “the longing for justice is man’s eternal longing for happiness”.[2]
The answer to the aforementioned questions lies within the examination of the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, in the United States, in 1776, in order to address the power given to the courts to assess the constitutionality of the laws and of normative acts.
Banning female circumcision in The Gambia through legislative change: The next steps
Posted: 19 January, 2016 Filed under: Satang Nabaneh | Tags: Africa, Anti-FGM Board, Anti-FGM Prosecution Unit, Domestic Violence Act, female circumcision, female genital mutilation, fgm, harmful traditional practices, Maputo Protocol, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, right to dignity, right to health, Sexual Offences Act, The Gambia, women's rights, Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2015 19 Comments
Author: Satang Nabaneh
Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of The Gambia.
There is nothing more powerful than a decision made at the right time, especially one which is a desideratum. So it was with the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia. From the coastal village of Brufut, on the chilly night of 24 November 2015, President Jammeh declared a ban on FGM stating that it was a cultural and not a religious practice (that is not to say that the practice would have been justifiable if it was a religious practice, given its well documented harmful effects). The news was as unexpected as it was music to the ear. It was every campaigner’s wish, to see an end to FGM in The Gambia. This was swiftly followed by the passing of the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2015 by the National Assembly on 2 December 2015 to prohibit female circumcision. The amendment addresses one of the key deficiencies of the Women’s Act 2010 which was the absence of a provision on eliminating harmful traditional practices. The Amendment Act added sections 32A and 32B in the Women’s Act. With the enactment, The Gambia joined a number of African countries in adopting legislation as a reform strategy for ending FGM.
In defence of these “disgusting and unnatural”
Posted: 10 March, 2014 Filed under: Benjamin Ng’aru | Tags: African (Banjul) Charter, all persons, Anti-Homosexuality Act, constitution, discrimination, equality of all persons, freedom from inhumane treatment, gays, homosexual acts, homosexuality, human rights, International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Kill the Gays Bill, lesbians, life sentence, morality, Museveni, right to dignity, right to privacy, sexual orientation, Social and Cultural Rights, stigmatisation, Toonen v Australia, transgender, Uganda, un-African, United Nations, Universal Declaration for Human Rights, violence 9 Comments
Author: Benjamin Ng’aru
Legal Assistant, Local Authorities Pensions Trust; Volunteer Programmes Assistant, Legal Exchange Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
On Monday 25 February 2014, Uganda’s long serving president Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014 (previously referred to as Kill the Gays Bill”). The Long Title thereof provides that this “Act [is intended] to prohibit any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex; prohibit the promotion or recognition of such relations and to provide for other related matters.” Museveni has also, on record, called homosexuals “disgusting and unnatural” persons. The legislation has since received widespread condemnation from human rights organisations and leaders across the globe.
Whereas homosexuality was, since the colonial era, outlawed with the introduction of the British colonial rule and justice system, the new legislation is an all time low. Section 2(2) of the Act provides for a mandatory life sentence for persons convicted of “homosexual acts”. Section 1 of the Act has a wide margin of what constitutes “homosexual acts” such as “the touching of another’s breast, vagina, penis or anus, … however slight …. with any part of the body or through anything”.
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