The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is the principle regional human rights treaty for the African continent. Adopted in 1981, there is now a significant body of jurisprudence and interpretation by its African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the recently established African Court. This volume provides a comprehensive article-by-article legal analysis of the provisions of the Charter as it draws upon the documents adopted by the African Commission, including resolutions, case law, and concluding observations. Where relevant, case law adopted by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, and that of other sub-regional courts and tribunals and domestic courts in Africa, are also incorporated. The book examines not only the substantive rights in the African Charter but also the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and provides a full examination of its mandate. A critical analysis of each of the provisions of the ACHPR is led principally by the jurisprudence and documentation of the African Commission and African Court. The text also identifies the overall development of the ACHPR within the broader regional and international human rights legal arena.
This book explores the duty to investigate potential violations of the law during armed conflict, and does so under international humanitarian law (IHL), international human rights law (IHRL), and their interplay. Through a meticulous comparative legal analysis, it maps out the scope and contents of investigative obligations. On the basis of general international law, it also develops and applies a novel and more broadly applicable step-by-step methodology for resolving issues of interplay between both legal regimes. In doing so, this study clarifies the scope of application and contents of investigative obligations under both legal regimes, as well as for situations to which both apply. The book finds that the oft-heard narrative that to require States to conduct human rights investigations during armed conflict would be wholly unrealistic in light of the realities of hostilities is unfounded and in need of revision.
This collection draws upon a range of thematic and regional case studies and uses the right to health as a normative framework to explore the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. Drawing lessons from across the continent, the book discusses the challenges faced by African states seeking to ensure the availability, accessibility, and quality of health care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the volume explores the impact of the pandemic on the right to health of vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as women, children, elderly persons with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers, and people from disadvantaged communities. Due to the poor funding of the healthcare systems, access to health-related services was limited to these groups in many African countries, thereby leading to avoidable COVID-19-related deaths through shortages of vital supplies, including diagnostic tests, ventilators, and oxygen cylinders. Chapters in the volume also explore the contentious issues of vaccine mandates, equity, resource allocation, and the rights of healthcare providers during the pandemic. This collection will be of interest to students of public health, human rights, and the social sciences, as well as to academics and policymakers with an interest in the nexus between the COVID-19 pandemic and public health policy in Africa.
This book argues for the existence of a court enforceable human right to water that is implied from the right to life in Article 6 of the Namibian Constitution. The book builds this argument by using tools of constitutional interpretation and with the aid of comparative materials. As such, the African value of ubuntu is invoked. Ubuntu – which is legally developed through its four key principles of community, interdependence, dignity and solidarity – is anchored in a novel approach to Namibian constitutional interpretation that is conceptualised as ‘re-invigorative constitutionalism’. The book advances the ‘AQuA’ (adequacy – quality – accessibility) content of water and articulates the correlative duties within the context of the respect – protect – fulfil trilogy, which are duties imposed upon the Namibian state as the primary duty bearer for a right to water. These duties include irreducible essential content duties that are argued to be immediate when compared to general obligations. In giving substance to duties that flow from a right to water, international law interpretative resources are also relied upon, including General Comment No 15 by the United Nations Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the African Commission’s Principles and Guidelines on Social and Economic Rights, and the World Health Organisation’s Drinking-water Quality Guidelines. Moreover, the book addresses various justiciability concerns that may arise, arguing that Namibian courts are institutionally competent and legitimate in enforcing right to water claims through the application of the bounded deliberation model. Additionally, because the Principles of State Policy in Article 95 of the Namibian Constitution are rendered court unenforceable by Article 101, the argument is made that this does not undermine the claim that a right to water, anchored in the right to life, can be enforced through the courts. - Dr Ndjodi Ndeunyema Modern Law Review Early Career Research Fellow, University of Oxford.
African Human Rights Yearbook Volume 1 (2017) The three institutions making up the African regional human rights system, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, decided to jointly publish the African Human Rights Yearbook, to spearhead studies on the promotion and protection of human rights, and to provide a forum for constructive engagement about the African human rights system with academics and other human rights commentators on the continent. Volume 1 of the Yearbook, published in 2017, contains fifteen contributions by scholars from Africa and beyond. Annuaire Africain des Droits de l’Homme Volume 1 (2017) Les trois institutions qui composent le système régional africain des droits de l’homme, la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples, la Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples et le Comité d’experts africains sur les droits et le bien-être de l’enfant ont décidé de publier conjointement l’Annuaire Africain des Droits de l’Homme pour encourager les études sur la promotion et la protection des droits de l’homme et offrir un forum d’interaction constructive sur le système avec les universitaires et observateurs du continent. Le Volume 1 de l’Annuaire, publié en 2017, contient quinze contributions de chercheurs du continent et d’ailleurs. Table of Contents Acknowledgements/Remerciements Preface Préface Editorial Éditorial Vulnerability of women in Africa to extrajudicial killings Anyangwe, A Protecting the African child in a changing climate: are our existing safeguards adequate? Boshoff, E The relevance of substantive equality in the African regional human rights system’s jurisprudence to women’s land and property rights Chekera-Radu, YT Practices and challenges in implementing women’s right to political participation under the African Women’s Rights Protocol in Zimbabwe Zvobgo, EF and Dziva, C Developing norms and standards on maternal mortality in Africa: lessons from UN human rights bodies Afuluke-Eruchalu, O and Durojaye, E Le rôle des acteurs nongouvernementaux dans la mobilisation juridique en faveur du Protocole de Maputo Guignard, L Happy 18th birthday to the African Children’s Charter: not counting its days but making its days count Mezmur, BD Monitoring implementation of the decisions and judgments of the African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights Murray, R; Long, D; Ayeni, V; and Somé, A Why should we obey you? Enhancing implementation of rulings by regional courts Nyman-Metcalf, K and Papageorgiou, I Contextualising the corporate human rights responsibility in Africa: a social expectation or legal obligation? Okoloise, C La promotion de la démocratie et d’un ordre constitutionnel de qualité par le système africain des droits fondamentaux: entre acquis et défis Olinga, AD La jurisprudence de la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples: entre particularisme et universalité Ondo, T Actualising women’s participation in politics and governance in Africa: the case of Ghana and Kenya Owiso, R and Sefah, B Article 6 of the African Women’s Rights Protocol: towards the protection of the rights of women in polygamous marriages Oyugi, P ‘It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’: the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and fair trial rights in Tanzania Possi, A Du ‘droit de la force’ à la force du droit: pour la dépénalisation de l’avortement à Madagascar Rabenoro, M La Cour et la Commission africaines des droits de l’homme et des peuples: noces constructives ou cohabitation ombrageuse? Yerima, SZ
This book eulogises a personality that has constructed a formidable scholarly and personal legacy that future generations of legal practitioners and socio-legal scholars in Africa should look to for guidance and inspiration. Divided into three parts, the book deals with a longstanding legal practice and scholarship on the role of international law and institutions. Additionally, the book discussed roles of an African scholar and practitioner to advance socio-economic and cultural rights across the continent, through contextualised, progressive adjudication and from a gendered perspective. Finally, the book examined the importance of early-childhood education and legal education alike, the role of the courts in redressing these concerns and the need for greater inclusion of Afro and queer-sensitive pedagogies and perspectives. Contributors to the book address the role of schools in redressing systemic marginalisation—including stigmatisation based on disability—and efforts to translate their rights as prescribed in national constitutions and international legal instruments. The methodology encompasses a TWAIL approach and the call to revisit orthodox approaches to legal scholarship.
Human Rights and Disasters provides a comprehensive analysis of the positive obligations of States under human rights law and their potential to improve protection against disasters. Silvia Venier examines the practice of international and regional human rights supervising authorities to identify emerging positive obligations and recommendations and explores how such duties interact with other applicable norms of international law in different disaster settings.
Africa and the Universality of Human Rights offers a succinct but comprehensive treatment of the human rights systems and machinery applicable in Africa. It consolidates a wide range of materials and sources in a comprehensive way that will be of value to teachers, students, scholars and activists. It makes clear that, notwithstanding difficulties experienced on the ground, African governments, peoples, and institutions together have repeatedly expressed their commitment to the universality of human rights, the corner-stone of the contemporary international order.
While an abundance of literature covers the right of states to defend themselves against external aggression, this is the first book dedicated to the right to personal self-defense in international law. Dr. Hessbruegge sets out in careful detail the strict requirements that human rights impose on defensive force by law enforcement authorities, especially police killings in self-defense. The book also discusses the exceptional application of the right to personal self-defense in military-led operations, notably to contain violent civilians who do not directly participate in hostilities. The author establishes that international law gives individuals the right to forcibly resist human rights violations that pose a serious risk of significant and irreparable harm. At the same time, he calls into question prevailing state practice, which fails to recognize any collective right to organized armed resistance even when it constitutes the last resort to defend against genocide or other mass atrocities.
The Right to Life under International Law offers the first-ever comprehensive treatment under international law of the foundational human right to life. It describes the history, content, and status of the right, considers jurisdictional issues, and discusses the application of the right to a wide range of groups, such as women, children, persons with disabilities, members of minorities, LGBTI persons, refugees, and journalists. It defines the responsibility of not only governments but also the private sector, armed groups, and non-governmental organisations to respect the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of life. It also explains the nature and substance of the duty to investigate potentially unlawful death as well as the mechanisms at global and regional level to promote respect for the right to life.
