Exploring the role of contextual behavioural science variables and education in the prosocial domain of global poverty and human rights

This article examines the transformation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and discusses the implications of such transformation on the promotion and protection of human rights in Kenya. The article is an exposition of the powers of the Commission and their importance to the realisation of the Bill of Rights under the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. This is done from a normative and institutional perspective with particular emphasis on the extent to which the UN Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles, 1993) have been complied with. The article highlights the role of national human rights commissions in transformative and/or transitional justice in post-conflict Kenya. It also explores the possible complementary relationship(s) between the KNCHR and other Article 59 Commissions for the better enforcement of the bill of rights.

Download Full-text

Provision of Remedies for Violation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Comparative Study of the United Nations, Inter-American and African Human Rights Systems

African Journal of International and Comparative Law ◽

10.3366/ajicl.2020.0314 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 298-318

Author(s):

Roman Girma Teshome

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

United Nations ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Economic Rights ◽

Regional Monitoring ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

The Past ◽

The United Nations ◽

To Receive

The effectiveness of human rights adjudicative procedures partly, if not most importantly, hinges upon the adequacy of the remedies they grant and the implementation of those remedies. This assertion also holds water with regard to the international and regional monitoring bodies established to receive individual complaints related to economic, social and cultural rights (hereinafter ‘ESC rights’ or ‘socio-economic rights’). Remedies can serve two major functions: they are meant, first, to rectify the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage sustained by the particular victim, and second, to resolve systematic problems existing in the state machinery in order to ensure the non-repetition of the act. Hence, the role of remedies is not confined to correcting the past but also shaping the future by providing reforming measures a state has to undertake. The adequacy of remedies awarded by international and regional human rights bodies is also assessed based on these two benchmarks. The present article examines these issues in relation to individual complaint procedures that deal with the violation of ESC rights, with particular reference to the case laws of the three jurisdictions selected for this work, i.e. the United Nations, Inter-American and African Human Rights Systems.

Download Full-text

Solidarity and Social Justice in the European Union Seventy Years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Role of European Judges

europa ethnica ◽

10.24989/0014-2492-2019-34-138 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 76 (3-4) ◽

pp. 138-148

Author(s):

Francesco Zammartino

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Universal Declaration ◽

Social Progress ◽

Economic Policies ◽

International Level ◽

The European Union ◽

Human Beings ◽

Government Programs ◽

Binding Force

Seventy Years after its proclamation, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, despite not having a binding force for the states, still provides at international level the fundamental text from which the principles and the values for the preservation of liberty and right of people are taken. In this article, the author particularly underlines the importance of Declaration’s article 1, which states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. With these words the Declaration presses states to undertake economic policies aimed at achieving economic and social progress for all individuals. Unfortunately, we also have to underline the lack of effective social policies in government programs of the E.U. Member States. The author inquires whether it is left to European judges to affirm the importance of social welfare.

Download Full-text

Reforming the Role of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Advancing Democratic Principles and Human Rights in African Countries: An Examination Using the Lens of Swaziland/ eSwatini

Southern African Public Law ◽

10.25159/2522-6800/3860 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Jeremy Sarkin

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

African Countries ◽

Individual Country ◽

The Status ◽

Effective Role ◽

Limited Compliance ◽

Fact Finding ◽

Democratic Principles ◽

African Commission

This article explores the role of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the role it plays regarding human rights in individual country situations in Africa. It specifically examines the extent to which it has been able to advance a human rights agenda in countries with long-standing human rights problems. The article uses Swaziland/ eSwatini as a lens to examine the matter, because of the longstanding problems that exist in that country. This is done to indicate how the institution works over time on a country’s human rights problems. The article examines a range of institutional structural matters to establish how these issues affect the role of the Commission in its work. The article examines the way in which the Commission uses its various tools, including its communications, the state reporting processes, fact-finding visits, and resolutions, to determine whether those tools are being used effectively. The article examines how the Commission’s processes issues also affect it work. Issues examined negatively affecting the Commission are examined, including problems with the status of its resolutions and communications, limited compliance with its outcomes, and inadequate state cooperation. Reforms necessary to enhance to role and functions of the Commission are surveyed to determine how the institution could become more effective. The African Union’s (AU|) Kagame Report on AU reform is briefly reviewed to examine the limited view and focus of AU reform processes and why AU reform ought to focus on enhancing human rights compliance. The article makes various suggestions on necessary institutional reforms but also as far as the African Commission’s procedures and methods of work to allow it to have a far more effective role in the promotion and protection of human rights on the continent. It is noted that political will by the AU and African states is the largest obstacle to giving the Commission the necessary independence, support and assistance that it needs to play the role in Africa that it should.

Download Full-text

Coming out of the closet? Audience reactions to the heteronormative disruptive advertising

Journal of African Films & Diaspora Studies ◽

10.31920/2516-2713/2020/3n2a5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 75-102

Author(s):

Ramasela Semang L. Mathobela ◽

Shepherd Mpofu ◽

Samukezi Mrubula-Ngwenya

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Human Rights ◽

Coming Out ◽

Gender Issues ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Positive Development ◽

Global Trend ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

The Media

An emerging global trend of brands advertising their products through LGBTIQ+ individuals and couples indicates growth of gender awareness across the globe. The media, through advertising, deconstructs homophobia and associated cultures through the use of LGBTIQ+s in commercials. This qualitative research paper centres the advancement of debates on human rights and social media as critical in the interaction between corporates and consumers. The Gillette, Chicken Licken‘s Soul Sisters and We the Brave advertisements were used to critically analyse how audiences react to the use of LGBTIQ+ characters and casts through comments posted on the brands‘ social media platforms. Further, the paper explored the role of social media in the mediation of significant gender issues such as homosexuality that are considered taboo to engage in. The paper used a qualitative approach. Using the digital ethnography method to observe comments and interactions from the chosen advertisement‘s online platforms, the paper employed queer and constructionist theories to deconstruct discourses around same-sex relations as used in commercials, especially in quasiconservative. The data used in the paper included thirty comments of the brands customers and audiences obtained from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The paper concludes there are positive development in human rights awareness as seen through advertisements and campaigns that use LGBTIQ+ communities in a positive light across the world.

Download Full-text

DEMOCRACY AT THE SERVICE OF FOREIGN POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Political Science Issues ◽

10.35775/psi.2019.32.2.013 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

A. FREDDIE

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

Transition To Democracy ◽

The Political ◽

Political Activities ◽

Foreign Policy Change ◽

The Republic ◽

Apartheid Regime

The article examines the place and role of democracy and human rights in South Africas foreign policy. The author analyzes the process of South Africas foreign policy change after the fall of the apartheid regime and transition to democracy. He gives characteristics of the foreign policy under different presidents of South Africa from 1994 to 2018 and analyzes the political activities of South Africa in the area of peacekeeping and human rights on the African continent.

Download Full-text