The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance as a Justiciable Instrument

AbstractThe African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance requires state parties to establish and strengthen democratic institutions, the rule of law, human rights and independent electoral systems. However, the extent to which these provisions can be invoked by individuals and non-governmental organizations before a court of law is uncertain. It is also unclear whether such provisions guarantee “stand-alone” individual rights and as such whether the charter could be considered to be a human rights instrument. This article seeks to analyse whether the charter is a human rights instrument, as well as examining its justiciability in light of the decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in APDH v Côte d'Ivoire. The analysis highlights the court's decision affirming that the charter is a human rights instrument and that individuals and non-governmental organizations can file cases in a court of law seeking its enforcement.

Download Full-text

Human Rights in Times of Crisis

Security and Human Rights ◽

10.1163/18750230-02601011 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 69-77

Author(s):

Michael Georg Link

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Comprehensive Approach ◽

Human Dimension ◽

Refugee Crisis ◽

Democratic Institutions ◽

The Rule Of Law

The article looks at the defense and promotion of human rights – and of the osce’s broader human dimension of security – in a context of what could be called “multiple crises”, i.e., the crisis in and around Ukraine, the refugee crisis in Europe, and the threat of terrorism. While the inclination might be to address these crises with a classical “politico-military” approach, the argument here is that an approach based on ensuring the human dimension of security – human rights, the strengthening of democratic institutions and the rule of law, and promoting tolerance while combating discrimination – is just as vital if real and lasting resolutions to these crises are to be found. The article argues that, while the current crises represent dangers in relation to security in the osce area, they also represent opportunities to reaffirm the importance of the human dimension as part of the osce’s comprehensive approach to that very same security.

Download Full-text

East African Court of Justice and Human Rights Jurisdiction: Drawing the Line

Strathmore Law Review ◽

10.52907/slr.v3i1.100 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

Liza Chula

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Economic Integration ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

East African ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Court Of Justice ◽

Pertinent Question ◽

Protection Of Human Rights ◽

African Charter

Human rights in Africa have gradually gained a place of recognition few could have foreseen only a decade ago. With the promotion and protection of human rights entrenched deep in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African states have a duty to uphold this principle in the larger goal of regional economic integration. The East African Court of Justice (EACJ), a regional court, has thus assumed the role of a watchdog in breathing life into these provisions, safeguarding the rule of law and ensuring everyone plays by the rules. It is unfortunate that these watchdogs can then lack the most important tool in steering the ship – jurisdiction. This paper, through a detailed analysis of literature review, tackles the pertinent question of whether the court has jurisdiction to handle human rights cases and arrives at the conclusion that an express mandate is lacking, but there is a somewhat implied mandate. Nonetheless, a clear articulation of the EACJ’s mandate is necessary to enable it to address issues effectively and efficiently.

Download Full-text

Filling gaps: the Human Rights Act 1998

How Language Works in Politics ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781529200201.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 209-238

Author(s):

Matthew Williams

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Common Law ◽

Individual Rights ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Underlying Theory ◽

Human Rights Act ◽

Human Rights Act 1998 ◽

The Common ◽

Legislative Language

This chapter examines whether the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) has been able to correct indeterminacies in other laws. It first provides an overview of the underlying theory of the HRA and traces its development since October 2000 before discussing its impact on the feasibility and desirability of indeterminate legislation. It also considers whether the HRA has provided means for agents of Parliament, particularly judges, to construct a logic of communication — that is, whether the HRA's new rules of construction filled the various gaps identified in contemporary law. The results show that the HRA has not considerably enhanced either the feasibility or the desirability of legislative language. Furthermore, the HRA has made explicit what had been implicit: that the common law was underpinned by the principles of individual rights; these principles clarified the rule of law where statutory language is indeterminate.

Download Full-text

THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC CONTROL IN BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC STATE BASED ON THE RULE OF LAW AND THE FORMATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SOCIETY

10.37547/supsci-ojhpl-01-02 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 01 (01) ◽

pp. 4-8

Author(s):

Jaloliddin Ne'matjonovich Polvanov ◽

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

The State ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Public Control ◽

The Public ◽

Direct Participation ◽

Governmental Organizations ◽

Non Governmental Organizations ◽

Democratic State

This article discusses the formation of views on a democratic state governed by the rule of law and civil society. The article also discusses the state guarantees and support for the protection of non-governmental organizations. In legal democracies, strong governance is largely the responsibility of civil society institutions. At the same time, the direct participation of the public in the implementation of governance will be expanded. A self-governing society is based on strong non-governmental structures.

Download Full-text

Constitution Making in Eritrea: Why It Is Necessary to Go Back to the Future

African Journal of Legal Studies ◽

10.1163/17087384-12342064 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (3-4) ◽

pp. 237-272

Author(s):

Joseph Eliot Magnet

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

High Risk ◽

United Nations ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Power Sharing ◽

Democratic Institutions ◽

National Assembly ◽

Civil Strife ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

The Future

Eritrea went through a constitutional process from 1995 to 1997, which resulted in a text that provides for the rule of law, democratic institutions and human rights. The text was ratified by the National Assembly, but never implemented. The United Nations, the usa and the eu support the 1997 Constitution. They have called on Eritrea to “(i)mplement (it) fully and without further delay”. This recommendation is challenged here. Eritrea is multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual. The 1997 Constitution creates a highly centralized Stalinist structure that experience teaches does not work in deeply diverse democracies. Eritrea requires a power sharing constitution, fabricated in a proper negotiated process. Implementing the 1997 Constitution would likely bring Eritrea’s two large nationalities into conflict with its eight smaller nationalities with high risk for violent civil strife that could spill over into neighbouring countries. This is concerning for geopolitics and would be devastating for human rights.

Download Full-text

Global Norms and Local Courts

10.1093/oso/9780198807865.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Tobias Berger

Keyword(s):

Rule Of Law ◽

Islamic Law ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Norm Diffusion ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Governmental Organizations ◽

Non Governmental Organizations ◽

The Social ◽

Global Norms ◽

Local Courts

What happens to transnational norms when they travel from one place to another? How do norms change when they move; and how do they affect the place where they arrive? This book develops a novel theoretical account of norm translation that is located in-between theories of norm diffusion and norm localization. It shows how such translations do not follow linear trajectories from ‘the global’ to ‘the local’. Instead, they unfold in a recursive back and forth movement between different actors located in different contexts. As norms are translated, their meaning changes; and only if their meaning changes in ways that are intelligible to people within a specific context, the social and political dynamics of this context change as well. This book analyses translations of ‘the rule of law’. It focuses on contemporary donor-driven projects with non-state courts in rural Bangladesh and shows how in these projects, global norms change local courts—but only if they are translated, often in unexpected ways from the perspective of international actors. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book reveals how grassroots-level employees of local non-governmental organizations significantly alter the meaning of global norms—for example when they translate secular notions of the rule of law into the language of Islam and Islamic Law—and only thereby also enhance participatory spaces for marginalized people. Such translations that change both global norms and local courts have been largely neglected by scholars and policy makers alike; they are the central theme of this book.

Download Full-text

The 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance: Trying to Make Sense of the Late Ratification of the African Charter and Non-Implementation of Its Compliance Mechanism

Africa Spectrum ◽

10.1177/0002039719890185 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 54 (2) ◽

pp. 127-146

Author(s):

Ulf Engel

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Union Member ◽

African Union ◽

Member States ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Universal Values ◽

Compliance Mechanism ◽

African Charter ◽

Governance Architecture

In principle, the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) could be a powerful instrument to bring the African Governance Architecture to life and to help ensure that its universal values, including respect for human rights and the rule of law, are implemented across all African Union member states. Yet how serious in reality are the latter on this question? Ratification of the African Charter has taken five years and, as of late 2019, the implementation of its compliance mechanism is still pending. This article asks how these empirical puzzles can be best addressed. In the absence of robust data on member states’ preferences and with a view to developing hypotheses for further research, this article inductively interrogates how data on the various regimes’ political liberties may or may not relate to the ratification of the African Charter and the implementation of the ACDEG compliance mechanism.

Download Full-text