Special Focus: Communication surveillance law and human rights in Africa

Regional human rights systems play a crucial role in strengthening IHRL. Initial concerns that regional systems could undermine the universality of human rights law have been surmounted in light of the important results achieved. In particular regional human rights systems provide a significant layer of protection, they can be more effective than UN bodies as they are closely connected to political regional developments and they have largely contributed, especially through their jurisprudence, to the enhancement of IHRL. In the field of reparations the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court have paved the way to all the major developments, also in cases affecting children. The African human rights system, and in particular the African Committee of Experts on the Rights of the Child, the African Commission and Court on Human Rights and People's Rights, will be also analysed as the African continent is the most affected by violations of children's rights in armed conflict. The European human rights system will not be included in this overview because it has not dealt wiThthe impact of armed conflict on children.

The ratification and domestication of international human rights instruments are used as indices to determine a state's commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. The judge as part of the judiciary is one of the stakeholders to fulfil this task. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, everyone has a role to play in the realisation of human rights. Everyone should respect the role of those who work for the protection of human rights, through an independent judiciary, who are impartial, neutral, and independent in the promotion and protection of human rights. Article 37(3) of the Cameroonian constitution of 1996 as amended provides for the independence of the judge which constitutes part of the judiciary. This is to the effect that the President of the Republic shall guarantee the independence of the Judiciary. He shall appoint members of the bench and the legal department. Nevertheless, judges are partially independent in their role in the promotion and protection of human rights. This raises issues such as contradiction, inconsistency, and difficulties for the judges to play in the promotion and protection of human rights. This article is based on the hypothetical premise that the role of the judges in the promotion and protection of human rights in Cameroon is ineffective. It seeks to examine the effectiveness of the role of judges in the promotion and protection of human rights. Adopting the Doctrinal and comparative research method, the paper concludes that under article 37(3) of the constitution, judges are partially independent in their role in the promotion and protection of human rights. It is submitted that the provision of Article 37(3) should be revisited to ensure the independence of the judiciary and judges in particular in the promotion and protection of human rights. In addition, the judiciary must undergo a paradigm shift from complacent and disturbing judicial inertia to judicial activism.

Founded in 2005, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) functions as the Secretariat to the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net). Its core mandate is to offer protection to and promoting the rights of human rights defenders (HRDs) throughout the East and Horn of Africa subregions. In this policy and practice note we reflect on strategies, tactics and results in four core areas of interrelated work: protection, security management, advocacy, and capacity and coalition building. We argue that a concerted, holistic approach to the protection of HRDs is necessary to mitigate the worst risks that HRDs face as well as to foster an enabling environment for the effective defence of human rights. This involves complementing urgent responses to HRDs at immediate risk with the provision of prevention-oriented security management training, as well as conducting sustained institutional and public advocacy. We also stress the importance of capacity building as well as coalition building and networking in this work. Supporting the growth of national HRD coalitions helps to bring protection expertise down to the national level, strengthening the regional network model. Finally, we put forward areas of work that need further development in the context of the East and Horn of Africa.

At the turn of the 21st century, China emerged as a major player in Africa’s international relations. This emergence has attracted a lot of attention in literature on what it portends for Africa. Many of the past studies have maintained that China undermines human rights in its engagements with Africa. Of important note was China’s support for the Sudanese government even in the face of human rights abuses; its unconditional aid to Angola, that have helped the government to shun accountability and transparency; its support for inhuman practices meted to the citizens of Zimbabwe by the government, among others. Against this background, this paper examined China-Africa contemporary relations from the human rights perspective. It explored, among others, China’s stance on human rights issues and the rights that China undermines in Africa. The paper argued China’s stance on human rights in Africa, and possibly internationally has a link with its domestic human rights situation. Being that human rights in China are abysmal, ordinarily China would not promote human rights in Africa more than what it does at home. The author concludes that although China may not be labelled a ‘saint’ in human rights abuses in Africa, it still cannot be labelled a ‘sinner’ in many human rights abuses by African governments.

The emergence of regional human rights systems depicts one of the greatest achievements in the internationalization of human rights. The foundation of the charter paved the way for the birth of the court thereafter. The African Court is established by virtue of the 1998 protocol to the Charter and the court is built upon an arsenal of protective and remedial techniques. The establishment of the court has reset the stage and created a new platform for the protection of human rights in Africa. The cardinal objective of the paper is to investigate the role of African Court on human and Peoples’ rights protection in Libya Crises taking the case of Saif Al Islam Gaddafi. The paper has utilized qualitative methodology. The government of Libya responded with brutal force against civilian protesters in contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. The security force of the government of Libya killed many protesters as well. This situation intensified human rights violations and enforced many of the peoples to displace. The court issued an important ruling in March 2011, ordering provisional measures against Libya in the armed conflict in its territory. Libya government denied the claims of human rights violations in its territory and showed its willingness to subject itself to criminal investigations by the Court if necessary. The issue of the fund, independence, commitment and competence of judges to interpret mandate and jurisdiction, the willingness of the states to support and to abide by court decisions, and powers of the concerned body to enforce court decisions hampered the court from being effective. Generally, unless African States act in good faith with respect to the decisions of the African Human Rights Court, the court becomes no more significant.

This article provides a critical overview of the history of the development of human rights education in Africa and the influence it has on social work education and human rights. The research is based on an in-depth integrative literature review and provides a context for an understanding of human rights education in social work in Africa. This history is part of the history and development of human rights on the continent. The discussion will indicate that Africa was at a disadvantage regarding human rights education from the beginning, as most African countries had adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) only by 2019. In Africa, human rights education has focused on curriculum initiatives, particularly ones incorporating human rights concepts into local schools; by contrast, human rights education for professional groups has been infrequent. As social workers interact with marginalized groups and populations, the profession is very well positioned to advance human rights in Africa, provided that social work education incorporates human rights in the curricula. This article will indicate how the history of human rights education in Africa creates the backdrop of understanding the need for advancing human rights education in social work in Africa.

Background: Every millennium, decade, and century, as well as every passing day, humanity wakes up with a dream of a ‘new world’, a world without wars and bloodshed. Despite this thousand-year-old dream, wars and their devastating consequences hang menacingly over humanity’s head like the sword of Damocles. For this reason, wars have been and will remain a key focus of researchers and philosophers. By studying the numerous causes and consequences of war, the necessary measures to guarantee security and peace worldwide can be determined. Although human society strides towards prosperity, the likelihood of war has not diminished but continues to threaten, with unparalleled ferocity, the existence of human life, peace, and security. The numerous agreements and treaties, both bilateral and multilateral, between different states have only temporarily avoided the outbreak of conflicts and wars. Therefore, the concepts of peace, defence, and the prevention of war remain at the centre of research today. Research works in these fields are geared towards a universal idea: ‘the protection of basic human rights’. Methodology: This paper’s research methodology involves analysing data on the role of the UN as a defender of freedom and human rights. To achieve this, an extensive literature review was conducted. The review covers literature sources in both Albanian and foreign languages, written by well-known authors and provides a large amount of information and thoughts on the topic under consideration. The authors of some of the used works include Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, Brian Tamanaha, Alexis Tocqueville, and Servet Pëllumbi. The research was conducted step-by-step and argument-by-argument using the logic of reasoning and the analysis of ideas. The relevant research works relate to the UN’s role as a provider and guarantor of human rights and freedom. Results and Conclusions: In the opinion of the UN, the concept of democracy is closely related to the concept of protecting peace, freedom, and human rights. This is also the reason why the UN cannot remain indifferent in the face of cases of violation of freedoms and human rights under the pretext of respecting ‘state sovereignty’. The UN is today’s most important and powerful organisation for protecting human freedoms and rights, world peace, and international security. Based on the above discussion, a democratic society is nothing but the result of new relations between the power and freedom of an individual. ‘Human rights and freedoms’ do not constitute a mere bureaucratic formula but a request of the people for the development of the society in which they live. They resemble a ‘spiral’ that has only ascended since various theorists first presented their ideas on ‘human rights’. Infringement on human rights would simultaneously mark the infringement and the end of democracy itself.

The human rights situation in Africa is a catastrophe.1 The state of traditional and Internet communications is also a disaster. Even with the little of the Internet that is available in Africa, it is making an impact in promoting and protecting human rights. The facts of human rights violation in Africa are well known; violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter are reported daily, a situation common across the continent. These include the infringement of democratic rights, ethnic wars, massacres, assassinations, imprisonment, disappearances of opponents or of journalists, and the open and public embezzlement of funds. Not a day goes by without Africa making the news on one of these subjects. This chapter provides a picture of human rights and communications in Africa, both prior to, and after the Internet’s arrival. Hopefully, this chapter will give the reader a picture of how the Internet is advancing the cause of human rights in Africa — as well as the problems the human rights community have in accessing and using the Internet.

Despite the fact that a constitution protecting fundamental human rights has been in place since 1990, authorities in Mozambique have been and still are responsible for human rights violations. This article aims to explain these violations by analysing the three Mozambican constitutions that have been in force since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975. It highlights the many contradictions that remain in the current constitution, adopted in 2004 and amended in 2018. Using an analytical, multidisciplinary approach and the theories of constitutional amendment and dismemberment, it emerges that Mozambique does not yet have an effective approach to protecting and respecting human rights. In particular, the large amount of power assigned to the President by the constitution hinders meaningful progress towards a higher level of human rights protection, as does the lack of juridical and political democratic culture, as evidenced by the electoral processes of 2023 and 2024.

Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) obliges States to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN. The formulation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter gives room to argue that military intervention for purposes of protecting human rights is not covered in the prohibition if it does not threaten the territorial integrity or political independence of a State, especially since promotion of human rights is one of the purposes of the UN under Article 1(3) of the Charter. However, the majority of commentators argue that the Charter prohibits any unilateral use of force and the travaux préparatoires leave no doubt that the terms ‘territorial integrity’ and ‘political independence’ were included not to qualify an absolute prohibition of the use of force but rather as intensifiers to emphasize the protection of States from acts of aggression. The purpose of inserting the phrase ‘or in any other manner inconsistent with’ in Article 2(4) was not to open the door to implicit exceptions from the rule but to make the prohibition watertight. Thus, Article 2(4) constitutes general prohibition of use of force in international law, subject only to the two exceptions outlined in the Charter: self-defense under Article 51 and chapter 7 enforcement action by the Security Council. Thus, except in self-defense, the use of force is the preserve of the Security Council. On this basis, any use of force to protect human rights in another State is subject to authorization of the Security Council.

BackgroundIn recent years the Groningen Centre for Health Law (‘GCHL’ - formerly the Global Health Law Groningen Research Centre), Netherlands, has held annual summer schools on global health, law, and human rights. Responding to calls to decolonise global health (Fofana, 2021), in February 2022 GCHL convened an online academic colloquium to explore the issues in Africa. Panellists and discussants comprised leading African academics and advocates for public health, law, and human rights.Objectives1. Identify priority current and emerging issues in global health, law, and human rights in the African region with, where possible, reference to the climate crisis.2. Explore opportunities for identifying academic institutions, networks, and researchers working these issues across Africa.3. Identify opportunities to support collaboration between institutions, networks and researchers and other actors to address the issues identified across the regionResultsTop public health issues identified for further research included: public health law frameworks in Africa; One Health and climate change; inequality in the distribution of the determinants of health and disease; international trade and public health; the right to benefit from scientific progress (e.g. in accessing vaccines for COVID-19); gender-based violence; public health and agri-food systems; noncommunicable diseases; healthy diets; poverty; mental health; social protection; and plastic pollution. The first meeting of the network on health, law and human rights in Africa was held in May 2022. The second academic colloquium was held in July 2022, co-hosted with Moi University and the University of Nairobi, Kenya.ConclusionsPublic health and legal academics in Africa are ready to engage systematically with European partners to address key health-related law and human rights issues of global interest. Research agendas should reflect African priorities, and collaboration should be led by African institutions.Key messages• Capacity must be built to understand the links between public health, law and human rights in Africa.• Collaboration with European institutions to build capacity in public health, law and human rights is welcome, however priorities should be identified by - and responses led by - African academics.

This chapter examines the role of the African Union, formerly the Organization of African Unity (OAU), in the development of African jurisprudence on human rights. It provides a brief historical background on the African Union and the Charter provisions. The chapter traces the development of human rights protection in Africa; describes the monitoring and enforcement of human rights law; highlights the impact of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on human rights in Africa; and explains how States may be held accountable for infringements of rights and freedoms.

The concept of women human rights defenders is not as an attempt to exclude women from the role of human rights defenders in general, but because their involvement in human rights defense efforts is often underrecognized and invisible. Inequality in the relationship between men and women is still a marginal discussion due to the inferiority of women. The idea that women's human rights are part of human rights (women's rights are human rights), including defenders of their human rights, needs to be fought for. Local social, religious and cultural values ​​are problematic for women's human rights defenders. State responsibility and legal protection for women human rights defenders is a common concern. Reflecting on the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders shows that the world community has guaranteed the rights of every human being. The approach used is a normative juridical approach with Statute Approach. This research approach is approach. Issues of human rights, state responsibility, and legal protection for women human rights defenders are not taken seriously by the state. The lack of provisions to protect women human rights defenders places them in a vulnerable and dangerous situation. There is a legal vacuum to protect women human rights defenders. This can be used as a reference in developing security protection for women human rights defenders and their institutions because they are vulnerable to violence and criminalization by various groups. Keywords: Responsibility, Protection, Human Rights Defenders, Women

The situation of human rights in Africa evokes the image of a parasitic vine, growing rapidly, its tentacles reaching into every crack, to wedge it open further, its broad leaves shading the ground and preventing healthy plants from maturing. This vine of human rights violations has its main root system in the epoch of colonialism and it is fed abundantly by the waters of neocolonialism. In order to cut back this tangle of violations, to eradicate it so that human rights and the rule of law and justice can flourish, it is not enough to hack at the branches. We must discover its roots and pull them up.

This contribution discusses how to improve the African system of human and peoples' rights on the basis both of the practice of the African Commission and of a revision of the African Charter in the light of the practice and experience of other regional human rights conventions and bodies. Particular emphasis is put on improvements in the procedure of communications. Furthermore, the role of the African Commission with regard to the move towards democracy and human rights in Africa and the relationship between the Commission and the OAU will be analyzed, and a number of proposals on strengthening the African Charter and the African Commission will be made. In presenting the actual situation of the African Commission particular attention is given to the results of the 11th and 12th sessions (March and October 1992 respectively) of the African Commission which in respect to some concerns were breaking new ground.