Pub Date : 2022-08-11DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a6
E. Mwanga
The right to vote is among the pillars of a representative democracy. The right promotes democracy by ensuring that citizens participate indirectly in the affairs of the government of their country by freely electing the leaders they want. This article examines the theoretical and practical aspects of the right to vote in Tanzania. In particular, the article provides a critical examination of the laws and practices relating to parliamentary elections in Tanzania and their implications for the right to vote. The article argues that the right to vote is not effectively guaranteed in Tanzania, in law or in practice. In particular, the article demonstrates that the electoral laws as well as practices in Tanzania deny the citizens the right to freely elect their representatives/members of parliament. The electoral law and related practices give a mandate to few people who make decisions for the majority. The electoral laws and practices make citizens the rubberstamp of decisions taken by the few instead of their being the key decision makers.
{"title":"Who votes in Tanzania? An overview of the law and practices relating to parliamentary elections","authors":"E. Mwanga","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a6","url":null,"abstract":"The right to vote is among the pillars of a representative democracy. The right promotes democracy by ensuring that citizens participate indirectly in the affairs of the government of their country by freely electing the leaders they want. This article examines the theoretical and practical aspects of the right to vote in Tanzania. In particular, the article provides a critical examination of the laws and practices relating to parliamentary elections in Tanzania and their implications for the right to vote. The article argues that the right to vote is not effectively guaranteed in Tanzania, in law or in practice. In particular, the article demonstrates that the electoral laws as well as practices in Tanzania deny the citizens the right to freely elect their representatives/members of parliament. The electoral law and related practices give a mandate to few people who make decisions for the majority. The electoral laws and practices make citizens the rubberstamp of decisions taken by the few instead of their being the key decision makers.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48271272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-11DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a12
A. Paterson
The intersection between protected areas, community rights, statutory legal frameworks and customary law and practice is complex. Several cases heard by members of the African judiciary over the last decade have dealt with this intersection and provided valuable guidance on forging solutions promoting the contemporary conservation discourse that recognises the role of local communities and indigenous peoples in the governance and management of protected and conserved areas. The recent claim brought by the Batwa people of Uganda to land and resources situated in three protected areas provided the judiciary with another opportunity to draw from and contribute to the emerging relevant jurisprudence. This contribution overviews this jurisprudence and its strong link to the contemporary conservation discourse, and critically reflects on the latest contribution to it. It ultimately concludes that while the Ugandan Constitutional Court in the Batwa case missed a clear opportunity to draw from and develop the existing relevant jurisprudence, it did add a new dimension to it in the form of forging solutions through affirmative action redress.
{"title":"Protected areas, community rights and affirmative action: The plight of Uganda's Batwa people","authors":"A. Paterson","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a12","url":null,"abstract":"The intersection between protected areas, community rights, statutory legal frameworks and customary law and practice is complex. Several cases heard by members of the African judiciary over the last decade have dealt with this intersection and provided valuable guidance on forging solutions promoting the contemporary conservation discourse that recognises the role of local communities and indigenous peoples in the governance and management of protected and conserved areas. The recent claim brought by the Batwa people of Uganda to land and resources situated in three protected areas provided the judiciary with another opportunity to draw from and contribute to the emerging relevant jurisprudence. This contribution overviews this jurisprudence and its strong link to the contemporary conservation discourse, and critically reflects on the latest contribution to it. It ultimately concludes that while the Ugandan Constitutional Court in the Batwa case missed a clear opportunity to draw from and develop the existing relevant jurisprudence, it did add a new dimension to it in the form of forging solutions through affirmative action redress.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41620237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-11DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a2
P. Kruger, S. Karim
Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death world-wide and have increased significantly on the African continent. Changing diets are a significant contributor where people are given more access to unhealthy foods. Trade liberalisation has been revealed as a structural driver of the so-called 'nutrition transition'. There have been calls to take a human-rights based approach to trade law, and specifically in the context of food, to protect diets under the rights to food and health. In 2008 the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food proposed practical steps to introduce a human rights lens to trade law which can protect food environments. This article measures the African Continental Free Trade Agreement against these proposed measures. It focuses on AfCFTA due to its potential to impact on inter and intraregional trade. AfCFTA also recognises the importance of human rights in a trade law context as part of the text of its establishing agreement. an obligation indeed rests on the South African legislature urgently to implement similar laws to save the lives and protect the various other rights of unsafely abandoned infants. It is proposed that 'baby savers' and 'baby safe haven laws' urgently should be introduced in South Africa to prevent further deaths through the unsafe abandonment of infants in places such as toilets, pit latrines and open fields.
{"title":"Responsiveness of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to diet-related non-communicable diseases: A human rights analysis","authors":"P. Kruger, S. Karim","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n1a2","url":null,"abstract":"Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death world-wide and have increased significantly on the African continent. Changing diets are a significant contributor where people are given more access to unhealthy foods. Trade liberalisation has been revealed as a structural driver of the so-called 'nutrition transition'. There have been calls to take a human-rights based approach to trade law, and specifically in the context of food, to protect diets under the rights to food and health. In 2008 the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food proposed practical steps to introduce a human rights lens to trade law which can protect food environments. This article measures the African Continental Free Trade Agreement against these proposed measures. It focuses on AfCFTA due to its potential to impact on inter and intraregional trade. AfCFTA also recognises the importance of human rights in a trade law context as part of the text of its establishing agreement. an obligation indeed rests on the South African legislature urgently to implement similar laws to save the lives and protect the various other rights of unsafely abandoned infants. It is proposed that 'baby savers' and 'baby safe haven laws' urgently should be introduced in South Africa to prevent further deaths through the unsafe abandonment of infants in places such as toilets, pit latrines and open fields.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48732040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a44
O. Olumese
The right to health care under article 12 of ICESCR is an instrumental right because it bears vital linkages to the realisation of other rights. For the many Nigerians living in poverty, their health may be the only asset on which they can rely for the exercise of other rights, such as the right to work or the right to adequate housing. Conversely, ill-health can be a liability to the many people living in poverty in Nigeria, even more so in the absence of equal access to affordable and essential healthcare services. This article aims to review the implication of article 12 of ICESCR on some of the existing initiatives for achieving the right to health care in Nigeria, especially in respect of human rights law and policy. The article argues that for Nigeria to meet its international obligations under the right to health care, it must commit to adequate funding of healthcare services and engage with regional and international partners to ensure compliance with article 12 of ICESCR. Given that the right to health care presently is not justiciable in Nigeria because of the ouster clause contained in section 6(6)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution, the article calls for an attitudinal change in the judicial perception of economic and social rights that come before the courts. It urges Nigerian courts to adopt the principle of the interdependency and indivisibility of rights, whereby judicial measures to enforce the right are given effect through the formally-enforceable civil and political rights contained in chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution. The Indian Supreme Court is reputable for taking this approach to the interpretation and enforcement of economic and social rights because the enjoyment of civil and political rights is linked to the satisfaction of economic and social rights, such as the right to health care. Finally, because of the importance of health care to a life of dignity, the article calls for Nigerian courts to adopt a progressive and broader approach when dealing with economic and social rights because of the evident connection between, for example, the right to health care and the right to life.
{"title":"Duty without liability: The impact of article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to health care in Nigeria","authors":"O. Olumese","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a44","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a44","url":null,"abstract":"The right to health care under article 12 of ICESCR is an instrumental right because it bears vital linkages to the realisation of other rights. For the many Nigerians living in poverty, their health may be the only asset on which they can rely for the exercise of other rights, such as the right to work or the right to adequate housing. Conversely, ill-health can be a liability to the many people living in poverty in Nigeria, even more so in the absence of equal access to affordable and essential healthcare services. This article aims to review the implication of article 12 of ICESCR on some of the existing initiatives for achieving the right to health care in Nigeria, especially in respect of human rights law and policy. The article argues that for Nigeria to meet its international obligations under the right to health care, it must commit to adequate funding of healthcare services and engage with regional and international partners to ensure compliance with article 12 of ICESCR. Given that the right to health care presently is not justiciable in Nigeria because of the ouster clause contained in section 6(6)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution, the article calls for an attitudinal change in the judicial perception of economic and social rights that come before the courts. It urges Nigerian courts to adopt the principle of the interdependency and indivisibility of rights, whereby judicial measures to enforce the right are given effect through the formally-enforceable civil and political rights contained in chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution. The Indian Supreme Court is reputable for taking this approach to the interpretation and enforcement of economic and social rights because the enjoyment of civil and political rights is linked to the satisfaction of economic and social rights, such as the right to health care. Finally, because of the importance of health care to a life of dignity, the article calls for Nigerian courts to adopt a progressive and broader approach when dealing with economic and social rights because of the evident connection between, for example, the right to health care and the right to life.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45553112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a29
Beryl Orao
The right of peaceful assembly has been recognised as a critical component of democracy. In Africa it played a significant role in the liberation of states from colonial oppression, and continues to be used to express dissent. The actual exercise of this right, however, faces significant challenges. Too often, police officers use excessive or indiscriminate force during assemblies, leading to violations not only of the right of peaceful assembly but also, in some cases, of the right to life. Alive to the reality of the threat to life and limb posed by the unlawful use of force by the police during assemblies, over the past decades the African human rights system has developed standards for the use of force during assemblies. This article analyses the legal and jurisprudential developments around the protection of the right to life during assemblies and enquires as to whether they are consistent with international standards and whether they are adequate. It finds that despite progressive legal development on the protection of the right to life in law enforcement, in general, there is limited jurisprudence on the specific protection of the right to life in the context of the policing of assemblies. Consequently, the standards expressed in various instruments and resolutions are yet to be adequately interpreted and reinforced.
{"title":"Protecting the right to life during assemblies: Legal and jurisprudential developments in the African human rights system","authors":"Beryl Orao","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a29","url":null,"abstract":"The right of peaceful assembly has been recognised as a critical component of democracy. In Africa it played a significant role in the liberation of states from colonial oppression, and continues to be used to express dissent. The actual exercise of this right, however, faces significant challenges. Too often, police officers use excessive or indiscriminate force during assemblies, leading to violations not only of the right of peaceful assembly but also, in some cases, of the right to life. Alive to the reality of the threat to life and limb posed by the unlawful use of force by the police during assemblies, over the past decades the African human rights system has developed standards for the use of force during assemblies. This article analyses the legal and jurisprudential developments around the protection of the right to life during assemblies and enquires as to whether they are consistent with international standards and whether they are adequate. It finds that despite progressive legal development on the protection of the right to life in law enforcement, in general, there is limited jurisprudence on the specific protection of the right to life in the context of the policing of assemblies. Consequently, the standards expressed in various instruments and resolutions are yet to be adequately interpreted and reinforced.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43800762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a30
E. Durojaye
The right to health is one of the important rights guaranteed in international and regional human rights instruments. Over the years the content and nature of this right have evolved through the works of scholars and clarifications provided by human rights treaty bodies. Focusing on the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, this article assesses the contributions of the African human rights system towards the advancement of the right to health. It outlines some of the major achievements in terms of normative framework as exemplified by the provisions of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the African Youth Charter and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Older Persons. In addition, it highlights the clarifications provided by the African Commission charged with interpreting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the African Women's Protocol. These include the adoption of resolutions, General Comments, guidelines and important decisions which provide a nuanced understanding of the right to health in the African context. The article identifies challenges militating against the full enjoyment of the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health in the region, such as the slow ratification of important human rights instruments, the lack of political will for law reforms, the failure to timeously submit state reports and interference with the work of the African Commission. The article concludes by calling on African governments to exhibit political will in ensuring the effective implementation of the right to health at the national level.
{"title":"An analysis of the contribution of the African human rights system to the understanding of the right to health","authors":"E. Durojaye","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a30","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a30","url":null,"abstract":"The right to health is one of the important rights guaranteed in international and regional human rights instruments. Over the years the content and nature of this right have evolved through the works of scholars and clarifications provided by human rights treaty bodies. Focusing on the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, this article assesses the contributions of the African human rights system towards the advancement of the right to health. It outlines some of the major achievements in terms of normative framework as exemplified by the provisions of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the African Youth Charter and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Older Persons. In addition, it highlights the clarifications provided by the African Commission charged with interpreting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the African Women's Protocol. These include the adoption of resolutions, General Comments, guidelines and important decisions which provide a nuanced understanding of the right to health in the African context. The article identifies challenges militating against the full enjoyment of the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health in the region, such as the slow ratification of important human rights instruments, the lack of political will for law reforms, the failure to timeously submit state reports and interference with the work of the African Commission. The article concludes by calling on African governments to exhibit political will in ensuring the effective implementation of the right to health at the national level.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47679745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a28
Annika Rudman
In contentious cases the material jurisdiction of the African Court is the jurisdiction to interpret and apply the instruments that are provided for in article 3(1) of the African Court Protocol. For the African Court to appropriately apply these instruments it must perform an interpretive role and utilise, at its discretion, information available from sources other than those that fall under its material jurisdiction and the sources of law stipulated in article 7 of the Court Protocol. In a 2001 article Heyns brought to our attention a number of potential problems related to the material jurisdiction of the African Court. He particularly pointed us to the loss of the 'African' in article 3, the narrow approach to the applicable sources of law in article 7 and the uncertainty of the position of articles 60 and 61 of the African Charter in guiding the interpretive mandate of the African Court. Through an analysis of the Court's jurisprudence, guided by these three essential issues, the article explores how the Court has approached its material jurisdiction during its first ten years of its existence. It further aims to establish what methodology the Court has developed to address the lack of an interpretive provision in the Court Protocol with specific reference to the application of articles 60 and 61 of the Charter. The analysis demonstrates a pragmatic approach to material jurisdiction, firmly grounded in the principle of complementarity.
{"title":"The African Charter: Just one treaty among many? The development of the material jurisdiction and interpretive mandate of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights","authors":"Annika Rudman","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a28","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a28","url":null,"abstract":"In contentious cases the material jurisdiction of the African Court is the jurisdiction to interpret and apply the instruments that are provided for in article 3(1) of the African Court Protocol. For the African Court to appropriately apply these instruments it must perform an interpretive role and utilise, at its discretion, information available from sources other than those that fall under its material jurisdiction and the sources of law stipulated in article 7 of the Court Protocol. In a 2001 article Heyns brought to our attention a number of potential problems related to the material jurisdiction of the African Court. He particularly pointed us to the loss of the 'African' in article 3, the narrow approach to the applicable sources of law in article 7 and the uncertainty of the position of articles 60 and 61 of the African Charter in guiding the interpretive mandate of the African Court. Through an analysis of the Court's jurisprudence, guided by these three essential issues, the article explores how the Court has approached its material jurisdiction during its first ten years of its existence. It further aims to establish what methodology the Court has developed to address the lack of an interpretive provision in the Court Protocol with specific reference to the application of articles 60 and 61 of the Charter. The analysis demonstrates a pragmatic approach to material jurisdiction, firmly grounded in the principle of complementarity.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44349271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.1787/soc_glance-2008-3-en
F. Viljoen
This edition of the African Human Rights Law journal starts with a 'Special focus' on the 'Forty years of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: Honouring the memory of Christof Heyns'. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter) was adopted by the OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27 June 1981 - forty years ago in 2021. The 'special focus' marks this milestone. It also pays tribute to a baobab on the landscape of international human rights law, Professor Christof Heyns.
{"title":"Special focus","authors":"F. Viljoen","doi":"10.1787/soc_glance-2008-3-en","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1787/soc_glance-2008-3-en","url":null,"abstract":"This edition of the African Human Rights Law journal starts with a 'Special focus' on the 'Forty years of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: Honouring the memory of Christof Heyns'. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter) was adopted by the OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27 June 1981 - forty years ago in 2021. The 'special focus' marks this milestone. It also pays tribute to a baobab on the landscape of international human rights law, Professor Christof Heyns.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44804712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a47
B. Kabumba
This article examines the constitutionality of the requirement to establish certain grounds - adultery, cruelty, desertion, bigamy and others - as a condition for the grant of divorce in Uganda. It begins with an examination of the existing legal framework, including reforms already achieved through public interest litigation, and certain changes sought to be effected via judicial activism. The article then proceeds to an analysis of the human rights issues implicated by a fault-based framework, and a consideration as to whether the public interest-based limitations in this regard pass constitutional muster. Ultimately, it is proposed that the only means of aligning this area of domestic relations law with the Constitution is through the elimination of fault as a requirement for dissolving marital bonds. Such reform would also be consistent with critical public policy concerns, including the welfare of children and the sanctity of marriage itself.
{"title":"The right to 'unlove': The constitutional case for no-fault divorce in Uganda","authors":"B. Kabumba","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a47","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a47","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the constitutionality of the requirement to establish certain grounds - adultery, cruelty, desertion, bigamy and others - as a condition for the grant of divorce in Uganda. It begins with an examination of the existing legal framework, including reforms already achieved through public interest litigation, and certain changes sought to be effected via judicial activism. The article then proceeds to an analysis of the human rights issues implicated by a fault-based framework, and a consideration as to whether the public interest-based limitations in this regard pass constitutional muster. Ultimately, it is proposed that the only means of aligning this area of domestic relations law with the Constitution is through the elimination of fault as a requirement for dissolving marital bonds. Such reform would also be consistent with critical public policy concerns, including the welfare of children and the sanctity of marriage itself.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43471722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-31DOI: 10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a35
Daphine Kabagambe Agaba
The article addresses inequality and governance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, it highlights ways in which COVID-19 has further exacerbated the already worrying inequality levels. Specifically, it addresses issues such as vaccine nationalism, rising income inequality levels, while the minority become richer, some from the manufacturing and selling of COVID-related products. From a governance perspective, it is argued that the reliance on liberal democracies to deliver equality is proving to be insufficient as these have been noted to pursue and prioritise market-based strategies that ultimately perpetuate inequality. Ultimately, it is forwarded that there needs to be a rethinking of the global political economy policies, including debt, health systems, intellectual property laws and trade, in order to directly address how such systems perpetuate inequality. In the context of the African continent, the article highlights the difficulty in accessing vaccines, posing a major threat to the continent, which is experiencing waves of the pandemic that are more disturbing than those that went before. It also highlights the extent to which paucity of research affects vaccine efficiency on the continent. COVID-19 has further worsened the already precarious political and economic situation in most of Africa, characterised by countries being unable to pay debt, electoral political violence, COVID-19 denialism, exploiting COVID-19 to clamp down on opposition, and misuse of COVID-19 funds. Thus, it is recommended that there needs to be an overhaul of the already broken fiscal and political environments rather than the adoption of piecemeal economic solutions such as debt freezes, or politically-flawed ones, that ultimately do not work.
{"title":"Tackling inequality and governance challenges: Insights from the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Daphine Kabagambe Agaba","doi":"10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a35","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2021/v21n2a35","url":null,"abstract":"The article addresses inequality and governance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, it highlights ways in which COVID-19 has further exacerbated the already worrying inequality levels. Specifically, it addresses issues such as vaccine nationalism, rising income inequality levels, while the minority become richer, some from the manufacturing and selling of COVID-related products. From a governance perspective, it is argued that the reliance on liberal democracies to deliver equality is proving to be insufficient as these have been noted to pursue and prioritise market-based strategies that ultimately perpetuate inequality. Ultimately, it is forwarded that there needs to be a rethinking of the global political economy policies, including debt, health systems, intellectual property laws and trade, in order to directly address how such systems perpetuate inequality. In the context of the African continent, the article highlights the difficulty in accessing vaccines, posing a major threat to the continent, which is experiencing waves of the pandemic that are more disturbing than those that went before. It also highlights the extent to which paucity of research affects vaccine efficiency on the continent. COVID-19 has further worsened the already precarious political and economic situation in most of Africa, characterised by countries being unable to pay debt, electoral political violence, COVID-19 denialism, exploiting COVID-19 to clamp down on opposition, and misuse of COVID-19 funds. Thus, it is recommended that there needs to be an overhaul of the already broken fiscal and political environments rather than the adoption of piecemeal economic solutions such as debt freezes, or politically-flawed ones, that ultimately do not work.","PeriodicalId":36136,"journal":{"name":"African Human Rights Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42464163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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