Applying International Standards in Enforcing the Right to Personal Liberty in Cameroon: Challenges and Prospects

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-417
Author(s):  
Laura-Stella Enonchong
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Personal Liberty ◽  
Article 9 ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

AbstractThis article examines the problematic enforcement of the right to personal liberty in Cameroon. It offers a critical review of that right by assessing its compatibility with international standards endorsed by article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It finds that, although a small number of provisions are not sufficiently robust to protect that right adequately, for the most part the Cameroonian provisions reflect international standards. In the light of that assessment, the article seeks to identify the impediments to the effective enforcement of the right and to recommend the most effective and feasible mechanisms for developing a robust enforcement framework for the protection and promotion of the right to personal liberty in Cameroon.

Socio-Economic Rights and Their Implementation: The Impact of Domestic and International Instruments

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Erasmus
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Personal Liberty ◽  
Legal Remedy ◽  
Basic Quality ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
The Impact

Socio-economic rights are those human rights that aim to secure for all members of a particular society a basic quality of life in terms of food, water, shelter, education, health care and housing. They differ from traditional civil and political rights such as the right to equality, personal liberty, property, free speech and association. These “traditional human rights” are now found in most democratic constitutions and are, as a rule, enshrined in a Bill of Rights; which is that part of the Constitution that is normally enforced through mechanisms such as judicial review. The victims of the violation of such rights have a legal remedy. Individual freedom is a primary value underpinning civil and political rights.

Art.21 Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Access to Information

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varney Eliza
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Article 9 ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Equal Right

This chapter examines the effectiveness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in promoting and protecting the equal right of persons with disabilities to freedom of expression and opinion and access to information, focusing on 21. The discussion draws links between this provision and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and stresses the importance of the CRPD in applying the right to freedom of expression and opinion and access to information to the specific circumstances of persons with disabilities. Links are drawn also between Article 21 and other provisions of the CRPD, particularly Article 9 on accessibility. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of Article 21 by states parties to the Convention.

Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza v. The Republic of Rwanda

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 713-719
Author(s):  
Harrison Mbori
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Immediate Release ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Presumption Of Innocence ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
International Courts ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right

In its landmark November 24, 2017 judgment in Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza v. The Republic of Rwanda, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR) or Court) held that certain aspects of the right to a fair trial (presumption of innocence and illegal searches) and the right to freedom of expression under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) had been violated by the Republic of Rwanda (Respondent State). In its final orders, however, the Court rejected the applicant's prayer for immediate release and deferred its decision on other forms of reparation. The judgment has broad implications on how African states protect and respect the rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression. The case also offers some vital lessons on state backlash towards human rights litigation and African states’ compliance with decisions of international courts (ICs).

A Critical Analysis of Life Imprisonment in Malawi

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-466
Author(s):  
Esther Gumboh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Life Imprisonment ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Capital Crimes ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractThe abolition of the mandatory death penalty for murder in Malawi has attracted attention to life imprisonment as a possible punishment for capital crimes. This article considers the human rights challenges that life imprisonment in Malawi raises in view of the Bill of Rights and Malawi's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and other international and regional human rights instruments that prescribe various standards for punishment. The article argues that, in the absence of a clear statutory definition of life imprisonment and an inadequate release system, the application of life imprisonment in Malawi is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights and international standards on punishment.

The Economic and Political Determinants of Human (Including Health) Rights

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Individual Property ◽  
Socioeconomic Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Fair Wages ◽  
The Right ◽  
The U.S

This paper presents an analysis and critique of the U.S. government's current emphasis on human rights; and (a) its limited focus on only some civil and political components of the original U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, and (b) its disregard for economic and social rights such as the rights to work, fair wages, health, education, and social security. The paper discusses the reasons for that limited focus and argues that, contrary to what is widely presented in the media and academe: (1) civil and political rights are highly restricted in the U.S.; (2) those rights are further restricted in the U.S. when analyzed in their social and economic dimensions; (3) civil and political rights are not independent of but rather intrinsically related to and dependent on the existence of socioeconomic rights; (4) the definition of the nature and extension of human rights in their civil, political, social, and economic dimensions is not universal, but rather depends on the pattern of economic and political power relations particular to each society; and (5) the pattern of power relations in the U.S. society and the western system of power, based on the right to individual property and its concomitant class structure and relations, is incompatible with the full realization of human rights in their economic, social, political, and civil dimensions. This paper further indicates that U.S. financial and corporate capital, through its overwhelming influence over the organs of political power in the U.S. and over international bodies and agencies, is primarily responsible for the denial of the human rights of the U.S. population and many populations throughout the world as well.

The Right to Enter One’s Own Country: The Conflict between the Jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee and the Travaux Préparatoires of Article 12(4) of the iccpr

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-123
Author(s):  
Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

Abstract Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (iccpr) provides that ‘[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.’ The jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee shows that Committee members have often disagreed on the question of whether the right under Article 12(4) is reserved for citizens only or it can be claimed by non-citizens who consider the countries in which they were born or they have lived for longer periods as their own. In its earlier case law, the Committee held that Article 12(4) is applicable to nationals only. Since 1999, when General Comment No.27 was adopted, the Committee has moved towards extending the right under Article 12(4) to non-nationals. Its latest case law appears to have supported the Committee’s position that Article 12(4) is applicable to non-nationals. Central to both majority and minority decisions in which the Committee has dealt with Article 12(4), is whether the travaux préparatoires of Article 12(4) support either view. This article relies on the travaux préparatoires of Article 12(4) to argue that it does not support the view that Article 12(4) is applicable to non-nationals.

Policing the Police: Independent Investigation for Victoria

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
State Party ◽  
The Public ◽  
Independent Investigation ◽  
The World ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Effective Remedy ◽  
The Right

In Victoria, complaints against the police made by members of the public are predominantly investigated and determined by serving police officers. Such police-dominated complaints mechanisms are widely considered to be ineffective, and are being increasingly abandoned the world over. With reference to the obligations imposed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, this article critically examines Victoria’s police-dominated complaints mechanism and argues that it violates the right to an effective remedy contained in article 2 paragraph 3 of the Covenant. As a constituent state of a state party to the Covenant, Victoria is obliged to give effect to the Covenant’s obligations, and so must create an independent police complaints mechanism tasked with investigating complaints made against the police involving allegations of breaches of the Covenant’s protected rights.

How to Think about Advocacy

2020 ◽  
pp. 34-56
Author(s):  
Michelle Jurkovich
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Right To Food ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Right ◽  
Spiral Model

This chapter focuses on contemporary international anti-hunger advocacy, which describes the nature of contemporary campaigns across top international anti-hunger organizations. It introduces dominant human rights models, namely Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink's “boomerang model” and Thomas Risse, Stephen C. Ropp, and Kathryn Sikkink's “spiral model.” It also provides an alternative model of advocacy, the “buckshot model,” which describes and explains advocacy around hunger and the right to food. The chapter identifies the hidden assumptions behind dominant human rights models and explores their limitations by using the hunger case to set up a contrast with more-often-studied civil and political rights campaigns. It reviews interviews with international anti-hunger activists that were completed by 2015, which reflected contemporary campaigns and efforts until 2014.

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