Dr Stefanie Rothenberger, head of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Rule of Law Programme for Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa, reflects on the Kenyan Supreme Court’s recent decision on the Building Bridges Initiative with Dr Willy Mutunga, the former Chief Justice of Kenya.

South Africa’s 1998 Refugees Act fails to reflect the country’s constitutional commitment to equality in as far as it entrenches the unequal treatment of women. Shortcomings in refugee protection lead to the treatment of refugee women as minors and smother their autonomous voice in the refugee application process.

The Ukrainian refugee crisis has exposed multifaceted layers of discrimination, racism, and prejudice towards “the other” by European and Western states.   Despite the condemnation of differential treatment and racism against non-Ukrainian refugees and the implementation of protective measures for all refugees, differential treatment and double standards continue to manifest in practice.

Cross border climate change displacement and its impact on children are international concerns which will not disappear anytime soon. Therefore, research and policymaking efforts must be increased to ensure the protection of the rights of these children.

The majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is an absolutely negative lesson for the African region and African women. Its refusal to recognise women with unwanted pregnancy as gendered moral subjects with decisional constitutional authority in respect of abortion is a manifest denial of the equality and human dignity of women.

This post reflects on the peculiarities marking the application of several human rights in migration controls on the African continent, with a focus on how States often contradict regional and sub-regional treaties.

Unconstitutional changes of government constitute a grave danger to the stability and consolidation of democracy in Africa. The recent wave of coups d’état in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger – coming at a time of unprecedented poverty and threats of famine initially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and now aggravated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine – is likely to provoke more political instability.

In the run-up to the World Congress, ALM and the IACL-AIDC blog present a new series as a foretaste of the brilliant thinking that will be in evidence at the Congress. We will feature some of our wonderful plenary speakers as well as members of the Programme Commission and some members of the Executive Committee of the IACL who have constructed the programme. Our theme for the conference is ‘Constitutional Transformations’.

The African Commission and African Court have made important contributions towards furthering rights protected by the African Charter. However, without sufficient compliance mechanisms, what is the significance of rich jurisprudence beyond academic interest? There is a serious culture of non-compliance and non-enforcement, which undermines the legitimacy and credibility of the Commission and Court’s judgments and orders.

On 12 May 2022, the South African Constitutional Court heard its first ever copyright discrimination matter brought by Blind SA, an organisation serving the interests of people with print and visual disabilities, on the basis that South Africa’s copyright laws unfairly discriminate against them and violate several constitutional rights.

On 24 March 2022, the Kenya High Court delivered a momentous ruling on the right to abortion in PAK & another v Attorney General & 3 others . The decision sets a tempo in safeguarding women’s rights not only in Kenya but across the world.

In an address on 28 March 2022, President Salva Kiir of South Sudan reiterated his opposition to the Hybrid Court for South Sudan (HCSS)—a judicial body which, if established, would have jurisdiction to prosecute those responsible for serious international crimes that have occurred in South Sudan.

COVID-19 may be one of the most devastating pandemics of our generation but it is unlikely to be the last. The TRIPS Waiver remains a crucial step to ending the pandemic and its disproportionate effects on African countries and the global South.

Covid-19’s potentially devastating impact motivated unrivalled global efforts to develop vaccines, which the World Health Organization (WHO) identified as the most effective protection against the disease. Although largely viewed positively, there has been notable mistrust and hesitancy due to concerns about health-related risks associated with Covid-19 vaccines. This has raised questions in the employment context as some employers have quickly moved towards making vaccines mandatory.

An analysis of the Ugandan Parliament’s latest attempt to further criminalise consensual same-sex relations reveals the shortfalls of the Sexual Offences Bill, 2019.