This paper investigates the often-neglected topic of disability-inclusive climate action, focusing on the recommendations from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for African countries. The author’s analysis reveals a consistent emphasis by the Committee on climate change in its Concluding Observations, particularly in relation to adaptive capacity for climate-related disasters. Key recommendations typically encompass emergency and disaster risk reduction strategies, the provision of information in accessible formats, and the establishment of engagement channels with disability representative organisations. However, the Committee’s climate change discussions fail to adequately address the unique attributes of the African region and its individual countries, leaving several crucial issues unresolved. These issues encompass the need for improved international cooperation and a focus on disability sub-groups with climate-related concerns. The paper advocates for the Committee to intensify its efforts to address disability-inclusive responses to climate change, including general recommendations for the inclusion and recognition of the diversity of persons with disabilities and astrategy for international collaboration on climate change.

This is the first issue of the African Disability Rights Yearbook (ADRY). Drawing inspiration from the European Yearbook on Disability Law, it is the first publication of its kind that focuses on Africa. It aims to bring into prominence an area traditionally neglected by both African governments and academics. Following in the wake of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is the first peer-reviewed journal to focus exclusively on disability as human rights on the African continent. The Yearbook, which is projected to appear annually, is set out in three sections. Section A contains academic articles: Section B consists of country-based research, charting recent developments on disability rights legislation, case law and policy developments in selected African states; and Section C deals with relevant developments in the African Union (AU) and African sub-regional organisations. The 2013 Yearbook aims to set out the situation as at 31 December 2012.

Several African countries recorded their first cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in March 2020, the same month the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a global pandemic. Within three months the virus has spread throughout the continent. By 29 December the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention put the total number of COVID-19 cases in Africa at 2.6 million with 63 300 deaths recorded. Though there are no official statistics on the number of persons with disabilities in Africa who have tested positive for or succumbed to COVID-19, the Working Group on The Rights of Older Persons and People with Disabilities in Africa in its statement on International Day of Persons with Disabilities acknowledged the potential heightened vulnerability of persons with disabilities on the continent to the pandemic reiterating that many persons with disabilities have pre-existing health conditions that may make them more susceptible to contracting the virus and experiencing more severe symptoms, leading to elevated mortality rates. The discussion that follows focuses on aspects of the monitoring report related to gaps in the protection of right to health of persons with disabilities in Africa during the pandemic. The commentary will use the survey results to illustrate how the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa (African Disability Protocol), once in effect, may provide additional guidance to states in responding more effectively to the health needs of persons with disabilities during possible further ‘surges’ of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as future health care emergencies. It concludes with a call for African states to expediently ratify the African Disability Protocol so it can come into force.

Discrimination and stigma relating to persons with albinism remain the norm in many African countries. There are documented reports of how persons with albinism have been subjected to gross human-rights violations owing to their colour. While attention has been given to the killings of persons with albinism worldwide, little attention has been given to other human-rights violations they encounter while seeking social services, particularly healthcare services. Discrimination against persons with albinism can lead to deleterious health consequences and at the same time hinder access to care for them. Women are generally historically disadvantaged and continue to encounter challenges with regard to their sexual and reproductive health. Being a woman with albinism can aggravate the situation as these women may encounter multiple forms of discrimination in healthcare settings. Thus, this paper examines the human-rights challenges relating to the health of persons with albinism with a focus on women with albinism in Africa. It draws on the intersectionality approach to argue that women with albinism suffer from multiple forms of discrimination, which further compound access to healthcare services for them. It discusses the relevance of regional human-rights instruments in addressing the right to healthcare of women with albinism. In particular, the paper discusses the potential of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the norms developed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as its counterparts at the international level in advancing the right to health of women with albinism in the region. Furthermore, the paper recommends to the African Commission and African governments measures and steps to adopt in order to safeguard the right to health of women with albinism in the region.

According to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities specifies that all people everywhere have a right to equal recognition before the law and that there are no circumstances in which this right may be limited. However, General Comment 1 of the CRPD Committee indicates that globally persons with cognitive and psychosocial disabilities are frequently denied legal capacity. This article sets out to explore the current situation and legal imperatives regarding the legal capacity of persons with intellectual, psycho-social or communication disabilities in traditional courts in KwaZulu-Natal. Traditional courts operate in some rural areas of South Africa and are presided over by a chief and a traditional council. These traditional courts are the closest and cheapest dispute resolution forum in rural areas and utilise restorative justice principles. The legal test for mental and legal capacity in formal courts is not applied in traditional courts. This article reports on research conducted by an NGO in KwaZulu-Natal that found evidence of negative attitudes and a lack of knowledge regarding accessibility and reasonable accommodation among traditional leaders. In these courts, persons with disabilities are not accepted as equal before the law. In some proceedings in traditional courts, an adult with a disability (male or female) is treated as a minor and is required to be represented by a parent or a male member of the family without a disability. A short summary of pertinent aspects of the Traditional Courts Bill indicates the scope for improvement in relation to full participation and equality before the law. We submit that South Africa’s implementation of the relevant international and regional law obligations under the CRPD and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is found wanting, including a lack of appropriate training of traditional court personnel and a lack of awareness of the equal recognition of legal capacity among families supporting persons with disabilities.

Across Africa trafficking in albino body parts is far more complicated than mightfirst be assumed, as this activity is merely the end result of a complicated process with origins far removed from the point of sale. The literature in this area tends to focus on either (a) the actual act of procuring and selling body parts; or (b) loosely-related and fairly vague reports of why this process flourishes. There is no extant overarching conceptual framework linking key underlying interrelated vectors that combine to drive severe exploitation of persons with albinism, (for instance, stigma; traditional and other cultural beliefs; the status and impact of authority figures; local, regional and national discrimination; the financial impact and economy of scale in trafficking body parts, and so forth). The absence of such a framework directly hinders proposing or implementing effective solutions, as these solutions are unlikely to succeed if they ignore the highly-symbiotic relationships among the undergirding vectors. Therefore, we propose an initial conceptual framework that unpacks crucial connections among related variables impacting trafficking in albino body parts in Africa, and then use the framework to suggest areas of emphasis to reduce and eliminate the trafficking of these body parts in Africa.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Malian population is 18,1 million. Persons with disabilities are 2 247 500, that is 15% of the total population. According to the 2003 household survey, the most prevalent forms of disabilities include visual, motor disabilities, cerebral driving handicap, intellectual disabilities and psychosocial handicap and albinism. The Republic of Mali signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), as well as its Optional protocol on 15 May 2007. The CRDP and the Optional Protocol have been ratified on 7 April, 2008. Through the CRDP Art. 35, the Republic of Mali was supposed to submit its country report on 24 June 2019. Through Art. 2 the Constitution of Mali, all Malians are born and remain free and equal in rights and duties. Any discrimination based on disability is therefore prohibited. In addition, the Constitution indirectly addresses disabilities through Art. 1 affirms that ‘the human person is sacred and inviolable. Every individual has the Right to life, liberty, security and integrity of his or her person. The Republic of Mali has an important pieces of legislation that directly address disability. The key one is the Law 2018-027, of 12 June 2018 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The policies that directly address persons with disabilities are: The Policy of Solidarity (since 1993) which aims to reduce inequalities, provide social protection and promote the socio-economic development of vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities and the National Special Education Policy (1999). Mali has the following programmes: The National program of Rehabilitation on Community Basis (RBC) since 1998 is to raise the awareness of families of children with disabilities, their rehabilitation and their rehabilitation at home; the Health and Social Development Program, the Ten-Year Health and Social Development Plan (2014-2023); and the Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Persons with Disabilities (2015-2024). Other than ordinary courts or tribunals, the Republic of Mali does not have an official body which specifically addresses the violation of the Rights of people with disabilities. The Republic of Mali has a National Human Rights Commission, since 2016. There are numerous organisations that represent and advocate for the rights and welfare of persons with disabilities in Mali, represented by the Malian Federation of Associations of Disabled persons which is an umbrella body of around 20 organisations. In Mali, the Ministry of Solidarity and Humanitarian Action is in charge of people with disabilities. The Ministry develops and implements policies and strategies in favour of disabled people. Persons with disabilities encounter multiple levels of exclusion and discrimination. As far as access is concerned, although laws provide for access to public buildings, employment, in practice, very little is done to ensure access for persons with disabilities. The Republic of Mali should conduct reliable specific household census of persons with disabilities, taking into account women, children and elderly persons with disabilities.

This article appraises the judgment of the High Court of Zambia in the case of Gordon Maddox Mwewa & Others v Attorney-General & Another. The discussion of the judgment concerns the Court’s interpretation of the right of persons with disabilities to protection from involuntary detention and to informed consent to treatment. The judgment is analysed against international human rights standards on the rights of persons with disabilities to human dignity, informed consent to treatment, liberty and security of the person contained in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and international and comparative human rights jurisprudence on these rights. The authors argue that the Zambian High Court failed to properly apply constitutional principles on limitation of rights when it declined to declare unconstitutional Zambia’s Mental Disorders Act, which allows involuntary detention and forced treatment of persons with mental disabilities.

International law plays an important role in the promotion and protection of the socio-economic rights of children with disabilities. International law bolsters the mechanisms used to keep states accountable in the fulfilment of their obligations. This article discusses two international law instruments, namely, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with the aim to examine how they provide for and protect the socio-economic rights of children with disabilities in the South African context and, by implication, children in the African context as a whole. Socioeconomic rights place a duty on states to ensure that all people have access to the basic necessities of life, which include education, health care, food and water. Access to these and other services ensures that children with disabilities, like all other children, grow and develop in a manner that is cognisant of their specific needs and best interests. The discussion takes the form of a focused comparison of the two instruments, through which similarities and differences will be highlighted. The discussion further points out the different ways in which these instruments could reinforce the protection provided in national law to ensure that the socio-economic rights of children with disabilities in South Africa are protected and promoted.