Witness Protection and Criminal Justice in Africa

Witness Protection and Criminal Justice in Africa

Author: Suzzie Onyeka Oyakhire

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-06-30

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1000899454

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This book examines the concept of witness protection which is still at an early developmental stage in several African countries including Nigeria, from a legal and institutional perspective. Recent developments in Nigeria highlight the need to clarify legal and conceptual issues within the existing legal framework for protecting witnesses. Using the Nigerian case study, the book illustrates some obscurities inherent in the concept of witness protection. These are highlighted around five critical areas: the definition of witness protection; the scope of beneficiaries requiring protection; the nature of crimes necessitating protection; the nature of protective measures; and the administrative control of witness protection. Specifically, this book draws from the existing literature and practices of witness protection and adopts two distinct perspectives: the criminal justice perspectives and human rights perspectives as heuristic tools for analysing the concept and to separate the disparate influences that shape how it is construed. These distinctions are utilised throughout the book as an integrated way of conceptualising the concept of witness protection. By discussing the practice of witness protection within the Nigerian context, the book contributes to African conversations on the topic of witness protection. The clarifications made in this book are utilised in making normative proposals for developing a legal framework for witness protection in Nigeria. They are also useful for other African countries interested in developing a witness protection framework as part of criminal justice reform. This book will serve as a reference point for legal scholars, researchers, academics, (postgraduate) students and policy makers interested in the concept of witness protection. It would also be useful for courses ‘concerned with comparative criminology where there is an interest in developments in the Global South.’


Witness Protection and Criminal Justice in Africa

Witness Protection and Criminal Justice in Africa

Author: Suzzie Oyakhire

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781003199199

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"This book examines the concept of witness protection which is still at an early developmental stage in several African countries including Nigeria, from a legal and institutional perspective. Recent developments in Nigeria highlight the need to clarify legal and conceptual issues within the existing legal framework for protecting witnesses. Using the Nigerian case study, the book illustrates some obscurities inherent in the concept of witness protection. These are highlighted around five critical areas: the definition of witness protection; the scope of beneficiaries requiring protection; the nature of crimes necessitating protection; the nature of protective measures; and the administrative control of witness protection. Specifically, this book draws from the existing literature and practices of witness protection and adopts two distinct perspectives: the criminal justice perspectives and human rights perspectives as heuristic tools for analysing the concept and to separate the disparate influences that shape how it is construed. These distinctions are utilised throughout the book as an integrated way of conceptualising the concept of witness protection. By discussing the practice of witness protection within the Nigerian context, the book contributes to African conversations on the topic of witness protection. The clarifications made in this book are utilised in making normative proposals for developing a legal framework for witness protection in Nigeria. They are also useful for other African countries interested in developing a witness protection framework as part of criminal justice reform. This book will serve as a reference point for legal scholars, researchers, academics, (postgraduate) students and policy makers interested in the concept of witness protection. It would also be useful for courses 'concerned with comparative criminology where there is an interest in developments in the Global South.'"--


The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights in Context

The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights in Context

Author: Charles C. Jalloh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-05-16

Total Pages: 1199

ISBN-13: 110842273X

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This volume analyses the prospects and challenges of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights in context. The book is for all readers interested in African institutions and contemporary global challenges of peace, security, human rights, and international law. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.


Implementation of International Human Rights Commitments and the Impact on Ongoing Legal Reforms in Ethiopia

Implementation of International Human Rights Commitments and the Impact on Ongoing Legal Reforms in Ethiopia

Author: Wolfgang Benedek

Publisher: International Studies in Human

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9789004415942

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This edited volume on Implementation of International Human Rights Commitments and Implications on Ongoing Legal Reforms in Ethiopiaaddresses key themes of contemporary interest focused on identifying the gaps between Ethiopia's human rights commitments and the practical problems associated with the realisation of human rights goals. Political and legal challenges affecting implementation at the domestic levels continue in Ethiopian - the nature and complexity of which have been thoroughly expounded in this volume. This edition uncovers the key challenges involving civil and political rights, socio-economic rights and cultural and institutional dimensions of the implementation of human rights in Ethiopia - while the country is absorbed in legal and political reforms.


The President on Trial

The President on Trial

Author: Sharon Weill

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020-05-28

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 0198858620

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During the 1980s, thousands of Chadian citizens were detained, tortured, and raped by then-President Hiss�ne Habr�'s security forces. Decades later, Habr� was finally prosecuted for his role in these atrocities not in his own country or in The Hague, but across the African continent, at the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal. By some accounts, Habr�'s trial and conviction by a specially built court in Dakar is the most significant achievement of global criminal justice in the past decade. Simply creating a court and commencing a trial against a deposed head of state was an extraordinary success. With its 2016 judgment, affirmed on appeal in 2017, the hybrid tribunal in Senegal exceeded expectations, working to deadlines and within its budget, with no murdered witnesses or self-dealing officials. This book details and contextualizes the Habr� trial. It presents the trial and its impact using a novel structure of first-person accounts from 26 direct actors (Part I), accompanied by academic analysis from leading experts on international criminal justice (Part II). Combined, these views present both local and international perspectives through distinct but inter-locking parts: empirical source material from understudied actors both within and outside the court is then contextualized with expert analysis that reflects on the construction and work of: the Extraordinary African Chamber (EAC) as well as wider themes of international criminal law. Together with an introduction laying out the work and significance of the EAC and its trial of Hiss�ne Habr�, the book is a comprehensive consideration of a history-making trial.


Violence Against Women and Criminal Justice in Africa: Volume II

Violence Against Women and Criminal Justice in Africa: Volume II

Author: Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 3030759539

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This book examines violence against women in Africa and criminal justice from the perspective of African scholars, practitioners and experts. As a global and long-standing issue, violence against women is gaining public visibility across the African continent with some states announcing a national crisis warranting immediate redress. At the global level, the elimination of all forms of violence against all women and girls forms a key part of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Split across two volumes, these books present a comprehensive analysis of the latest research and theories, principles and practices of criminal justice systems, criminal justice accountability mechanisms, and the key challenges women face in their quest for justice on the African continent. This volume (II) focusses on sexual violence and vulnerable women’s access to justice in Africa. Volume I focusses on legislation and its impact, the limitations of criminal justice responses, and the cultural and social norms regarding access to justice. Together, they adopt a comparative approach that highlight gaps and good practices to provide a rich source of authoritative information for promoting an intra-African dialogue and cross-fertilization of ideas across the different criminal justice traditions in Africa. Both volumes seek to advance discussions on eliminating violence against women in Africa and speak to those interested in criminal justice, violence, gender studies and African legal studies.


Trial Justice

Trial Justice

Author: Tim Allen

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2013-04-04

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1848137931

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has run into serious problems with its first big case -- the situation in northern Uganda. There is no doubt that appalling crimes have occurred here. Over a million people have been forced to live in overcrowded displacement camps under the control of the Ugandan army. Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army has abducted thousands, many of them children and has systematically tortured, raped, maimed and killed. Nevertheless, the ICC has confronted outright hostility from a wide range of groups, including traditional leaders, representatives of the Christian Churches and non-governmental organizations. Even the Ugandan government, which invited the court to become involved, has been expressing serious reservations. Tim Allen assesses the controversy. While recognizing the difficulties involved, he shows that much of the antipathy towards the ICC's intervention is misplaced. He also draws out important wider implications of what has happened. Criminal justice sets limits to compromise and undermines established procedures of negotiation with perpetrators of violence. Events in Uganda have far reaching implications for other war zones - and not only in Africa. Amnesties and peace talks may never be quite the same again.


The African Criminal Court

The African Criminal Court

Author: Gerhard Werle

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-29

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 9462651507

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This book offers the first comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the provisions of the ‘Malabo Protocol’—the amendment protocol to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights—adopted by the African Union at its 2014 Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The Annex to the protocol, once it has received the required number of ratifications, will create a new Section in the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights with jurisdiction over international and transnational crimes, hence an ‘African Criminal Court’. In this book, leading experts in the field of international criminal law analyze the main provisions of the Annex to the Malabo Protocol. The book provides an essential and topical source of information for scholars, practitioners and students in the field of international criminal law, and for all readers with an interest in political science and African studies. Gerhard Werle is Professor of German and Internationa l Crimina l Law, Criminal Procedure and Modern Legal History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Director of the South African-German Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice. In addition, he is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape and Honorary Professor at North-West University of Political Science and Law (Xi’an, China). Moritz Vormbaum received his doctoral degree in criminal law from the University of Münster (Germany) and his postdoctoral degree from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He is a Senior Researcher at Humboldt-Universität, as well as a coordinator and lecturer at the South African-German Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice.


The International Criminal Court and Nigeria

The International Criminal Court and Nigeria

Author: Muyiwa Adigun

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-14

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1351580213

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If Nigeria fails to prosecute the crimes recognised under the Rome Statute, then the International Criminal Court (ICC) will intervene. The ICC is only expected to complement the criminal justice system in Nigeria and is not a court of first instance, but one of last resort. This is what is known as the principle of complementarity. Before the ICC can step in, it must make a finding of ‘unwillingness’ or ‘inability’ on the part of Nigeria. It is only after this finding is made that the ICC can take over the prosecution of the crimes recognised under the Statute from Nigeria. This book examines the criminal justice process in Nigeria and discovers that the justice system is latent with the requirements of ‘unwillingness’ and ‘inability.’ The requirements, which serve as tests for assessment, are as they are laid down by the Rome Statute and interpreted by the ICC. This book offers recommendations as to what Nigeria must do in order to avoid the ICC intervention by reversing those parameters that give rise to ‘unwillingness’ and ‘inability.’ The International Criminal Court and Nigeria: Implementing the Complementarity Principle of the Rome Statute offers a contribution to the advancement of international law and will be of practical use to African countries. It aims to sensitise policy makers in different African countries in respect of policy options open to them to close impunity gap in their respective countries. This volume addresses the topics with regard to international criminal law and comparative public law and will be of interest to researchers, academics, organizations, and students in the fields of international law, governance, and comparative criminal justice.