The Application of the Doctrine of Res Judicata in the Context of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Analysis of the Court’s Decisions in the Gombert and Dexter Cases

As part of an ongoing discussion on the proliferation of the human rights judicial mechanism, this article critically analyses and unpacks the only two examples where the African Court had to decide on the application of the doctrine of res judicata under Article 56(7) of the African Charter. The Court declared both applications inadmissible on the grounds of their previous settlements by the ECOWAS Court of Justice and the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The article demonstrates that while the Court’s decision in the Gombert case appears to be correct in principle, its finding in the Dexter case is highly questionable and unconvincing.

The Emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Africa and its Impact on the Enjoyment of Human Rights

Meeting the rising need for development and tackling the attendant challenges in Africa requires pragmatic and innovative strategies. Although there is evidence that political governance is improving across the continent, these improvements are not meeting the expectations and needs of several sections of the society. Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be one tool with a great potential to address these current challenges. Just like every innovative technology, AI has both positive and negative aspects. This article examines the human rights implications of AI introduction into Africa in light of rights enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Advisory Opinion on the Request by the Pan African Lawyers Union Regarding the Compatibility of Vagrancy Laws with the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights and Other Human Rights Instruments Applicable in Africa (Afr. Ct. H.P.R.)

On December 4, 2020, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Court) issued an advisory opinion on the compatibility of vagrancy laws with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Children's Rights Charter), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Protocol on Women's Rights). In this landmark advisory opinion, the Court considered an important social issue on the African continent.

THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS, ITS REGIONAL SYSTEM, AND THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE FIRST THREE DECADES: CALIBRATING THE “PAPER TIGER”

Neither has any other human-rights treaty received as much vitriolic bashing as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), 1981, nor has there been a dearth of negativity about the treaty as a human-rights instrument. Such is the spate of pessimism about the African Charter and its system that it has repeatedly been referred to as “a paper tiger”, among other undignified labels. Beyond the endless lampooning of the treaty and its system as mere platitudes, have there been no opportunities for the civil society to strengthen the promise of this treaty and its system. To what extent has the civil society exploited such opportunities? Can there be a reconceptualization of the roles and attitudes of civil society that will galvanize the African regional human-rights system towards a veritable mechanism for more effective human rights protection? This article examines the contributions of civil society to the evolutionary processes, successes, and perceived weaknesses of the African regional human-rights system since 1981. Extrapolating from some landmark institutional, normative and jurisprudential developments within the African regional arrangement, this article identifies civil society as an inevitable, integral bearer of credit for the successes, and blame for the shortcomings of the aforementioned system. The overarching objective here is to canvass for a repositioning of civil society towards more effective praxis, and, to identify the trajectories for such engagement.

Transformative Child Rights Advocacy: An Ergonomic Conceptual Framework

This paper proposes a practical transformative child rights advocacy conceptual framework that is anchored to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child for normative guidance. The paper is premised on the understanding that the fulfilment of all rights for children requires a strong accountability mechanism, hence the need for an easy-to-use conceptual framework. The paper highlights tenets that will make an advocacy initiative to be transformative. To achieve the aspiration of a practical, transformative and rich conceptual framework, the paper draws from the structure-process-outcomes paradigm work of Avedis Donabedian on quality assessment. The framework provides a practical format for policy makers, practitioners and rights holders to hold the duty bearers to account.

People's Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa

The right to nationality, enshrined in art 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, is absent in the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, known as the Banjul Charter. On-going efforts by African institutions to address this gap, with a view to eradicating statelessness in the continent have, however, focused on the right to nationality as an individual right. This has undermined the spirit of the Banjul Charter, which consecrates peoples’ rights as an African specificity. This article highlights the Banjul-led African human rights system and its specificities of human rights, particularly with regard to collective community and peoples’ rights. Based on the recognition and communitarian theories, it examines different concepts related to collective rights and highlights the manifestation of peoples’ rights in African case law. It then analyses the nexus between peoples’ rights to nationality and statelessness in the continent. It concludes that the eradication of statelessness by 2024 in Africa cannot be effective unless the focus is on peoples’ collective rights to nationality.

Moral Values and Ethics as Antidotes for Corruption in the South African Public Service and Administration

This paper examines the relationship between morals, ethics, public administration and corruption. The argument advanced is that morals and ethics are antidotes for bureaucratic corruption in public service and administration. Currently there seems to be low ethics and morality in public service and administration in South Africa. The discussions in this paper consider the obligations under the South African National Development plan 2030, African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, the African Charter on Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration, and the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development for a corruption free and ethical public service and administration.

Voter Participation and Electoral Integrity in Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections

This paper examines the inclusivity and legitimacy of elections in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic amidst, concerns continually expressed over the zero-sum nature of Nigerian politics, which manifests in the rising tide of contentious elections. Issues such as logistical failures and delays, misconduct and irregularities, violence, challenges of internal party democracy, corruption and a biased judiciary, have almost become permanent features of electioneering in the country. The paper explores the value mechanisms and processes that can enable an electoral process that guarantees transparency and accountability based on Nigeria’s electoral laws and regional instruments, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, provides a credible opportunity for broad based participation, enables significant roles for the judiciary, anticorruption bodies, civil society organisations, and political parties as well as provide the strategic tools to ensure the credibility and integrity of each stage of the electoral cycle. The context of the 2019 elections, which recorded the participation of only a third of the 84 million eligible voters, will provide a barometer to measure the overall health of Nigeria’s electoral democracy, drawing extensively from secondary sources.