Strengthening the Monitoring of and Compliance with the Rights of the African Child

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-390
Author(s):  
Robert Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
African Child ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
International Human ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Monitoring Practice

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is a progressive human rights instrument by international human rights standards. The provisions of theunConvention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter are contrasted, noting stronger African provisions for the child’s ‘best interests’, stronger safeguards in areas of traditional or ‘cultural’ practices, and provisions concerning the ‘duties’ of the child and its implications for the child’s empowerment. Additionally, the African oversighting Committee holds stronger mandates than exist for theunCommittee on the Rights of the Child. However, reporting and monitoring practice by states parties and the oversight mechanism fall well short of such obligations and mandates. The paper proposes a range of measures to better ensure the rights of the African child, and their importance for the rights of all children and in advancing the international human rights treaty system.

Association pour le Progrès et la Défense des Droits des Femmes Maliennes (APDF) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) v. Republic of Mali

2021 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
The Family ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
International Human ◽  
African Charter

1Human rights — Rights of women — Rights of the child — Religious and customary law — Minimum age for marriage of girls — Right to consent to marriage — Right to inheritance for women and children born out of wedlock — Right to non-discrimination for women and children — States’ obligation to eliminate traditional and cultural practices harmful to rights of women and children — Whether Mali’s Law No 2011-087 on Code of Persons and the Family violating international human rights instruments ratified by respondent StateRelationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — Human rights treaties — Articles 2(2), 6(a) and (b), and 21(2) of Protocol to African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 2003 — Articles 1(3), 2, 3, 4 and 21 of African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990 — Articles 5(a), 16(1) (a) and (b) of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 — Malian law — Religious and customary law — Islamic law — Whether Mali’s Law No 2011-087 on Code of Persons and the Family violating international human rights instruments ratified by respondent StateInternational tribunals — Jurisdiction — African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights — Material jurisdiction — Whether case relating to violation of human rights under African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981 — Admissibility of application — Exhaustion of local remedies — Whether application filed within reasonable time — Whether Court having jurisdiction to hear case

Holding Food Companies Responsible for Unhealthy Food Marketing to Children: Can International Human Rights Instruments Provide a New Approach?

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Handsley ◽  
Belinda Reeve
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Food Marketing ◽  
Unhealthy Food ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
International Human ◽  
Marketing To Children

Public health advocates argue that unhealthy food marketing to children infringes children’s rights, given its link to obesity, and that states have an obligation under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘UNCRC’) to protect children from such marketing. This article explains how international human rights concepts could be used to impose obligations directly on companies to modify their practices to protect children from unhealthy food marketing. We draw on the global governance framework that creates human rights obligations for businesses, and evaluate voluntary codes and initiatives on responsible marketing to children in Australia, to see whether they satisfy the obligations imposed under this framework and the UNCRC. Finding significant limitations in these measures, we set out recommendations for how the food industry could take an approach to food marketing that places children’s best interests as a primary consideration.

scholarly journals Positive, humane and expeditious? An analysis of Ireland’s implementation of its obligations in relation to family reunification under the CRC

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-198
Author(s):  
Catherine Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Family Reunification ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Protection ◽  
The Core ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Adequate Care ◽  
International Human

This paper will examine legislative and policy provisions relating to family reunification of persons granted international protection in Ireland and whether these comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). For the most part, the families involved can only hope to reunite in Ireland because return to the country of origin or a third country is impossible. Although the principle of family unity is generally expected in human rights instruments, the CRC is the only widely ratified international human rights instrument to include specific articles addressing the issue of family reunification, and this paper will assess compliance with those articles, and with the core principles obliging states to ensure that the views of children must be heard in all matters relating to them, and making “the best interests of the child” a primary consideration in all decisions concerning children. It will also address the issue of how Ireland’s implementation of its obligations under the CRC in respect to family reunification cannot be addressed in isolation from its policies to reduce the number of asylum claims which have seen the number of applications fall in 2010 for the eighth successive year, and its failure until relatively recently to provide adequate care and support for separated children seeking asylum.

scholarly journals Samoan Custom and Human Rights: An Indigenous View

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Unasa LF Vaá
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Human Rights Standards

This article focuses on human rights as seen from the perspective of Samoan custom and social life.  It argues that the roots of human rights as understood by Western societies are metaphysical whereas human rights under Samoan culture stem from being born from human parents and, therefore, an heir or suli. While the genesis of rights may be different, the overall understanding of human rights, however, is argued to be the same.  The article examines Samoan cultural practices in light of international human rights standards and draws parallels between them. Custom can then be seen as a source of human rights. 

scholarly journals Exploring Children’s Understanding of the Legal Rights of Suspects in England and Wales

Youth Justice ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 147322542110305
Author(s):  
Vicky Kemp ◽  
Dawn Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Young People ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
International Human ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Human Rights Standards

While studies have explored adult suspects’ understanding of their legal rights, seldom are the experiences of children and young people taken into account. In this article, we discuss findings arising out of research interviews conducted with 61 children and young people; many of whom have experience of being suspects. From listening to their points-of-view, we find that children and young people fundamentally lack understanding of the rights of suspects, and especially the inalienable nature of those rights. We argue this is not surprising when children are being dealt with in an adult-centred punitive system of justice, which is contrary to international human rights standards.

scholarly journals Breastfeeding in Refugee Camps: A Child and Maternal Right?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleisha Ebrahimi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Right ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Formula Milk ◽  
International Human ◽  
Milk Marketing

Abstract In recognition of the health benefits breastfeeding offers for both mother and child, breastfeeding has been acknowledged in various International Human Rights Law instruments. Furthermore, against the backdrop of aggressive formula milk marketing campaigns, significant soft law provisions contained within the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes 1981 regulate and control the promotion of breastmilk substitutes. Refugee camps, however, remain aligned with pre-code practice, as formula milk is often one of the first donations to arrive in camps. Mothers, who are still affected by historical formula marketing campaigns, receive formula milk and perceive its availability and distribution as an endorsement over breastfeeding. In this article, International Human Rights Law is analysed, within the framework of the principle of the best interests of the child, to determine if the choice to breastfeed should be protected as a human right and how the indiscriminate supply of formula milk interacts with this choice in refugee camps.

Lois Mémorielles in Post-Genocide Societies: The Rwandan Law on Genocide Ideology under International Human Rights Law Scrutiny

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIETRO SULLO
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
European Countries ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Law ◽  
Human Rights Standards

AbstractThis article discusses the Rwandan Law 18/2008 on genocide ideology in the light of international human rights standards. In order to put the genocide ideology law into context, it sketches a brief overview of the post-genocide scenario. Because of the influence that provisions restricting freedom of expression aimed at fighting negationism might exert on testimonies during genocide trials, it pays particular attention to the transitional justice strategies adopted in Rwanda. Finally, it assesses the law on the genocide ideology against the background provided by the measures implemented in some European countries to deal with the phenomenon of negationism.

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