Earlier this year, Ghana's Supreme Court declared the Imposition of Restrictions Act (IRA) 2020 unconstitutional, merely three years after its enactment. This post takes a closer look at the IRA's prior controversies and highlights the key aspects of the Court's decision that substantiated earlier concerns, ultimately leading to the Act’s repeal.

Africa has witnessed a series of coup d'états in recent years. Ben Nyabira explores potential factors that might be fueling this persistent challenge. Drawing from recent coup events, Nyabira suggests that a major factor is widespread dissatisfaction with electoral democracy, as elections have failed to effectively advance the cause of democracy in certain countries where coups have occurred.

It was Sharma Robin who said words can inspire, and words can destroy, choose your words carefully. The power of words within our communities and legal spaces can never be understated. In this article, Felicity critically analyzes the use of the word ‘illegal foreigner’ within the South African legislative framework. She argues that the term holds a criminal undertone that can fuel stigmatisation, discrimination, and ultimately results in the violation of people’s human rights. Felicity advocates for the amendment of the Immigration Act .

In this week’s post, Dr. Hobden tackles an ongoing situation on Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP). The ZEP is a special permit allocated to undocumented Zimbabwean migrants to legalize their stay in South Africa. In a way, she is persuaded that the ZEP is revelatory of the boundaries of citizenship in South Africa. She argues that the ZEP issue demonstrates SA’s overtly rigid stance towards access to citizenship within the Republic.

In a capitalist construct, the environment is viewed as a commodity with zero opportunity cost, and over the years capitalism has given rise to severe environmental degradation. In this week’s post, Professor Soyapi focuses on capitalism and the environment. He discusses carbon majors' contribution to environmental degradation in Africa. The environment is everybody's responsibility to protect hence the observation that communities have the key to challenging future state-sanctioned carbon major projects that threaten African eco-frontiers.

In the the first of a two-part series, Ugochukwu Ezeh discusses judicial transparency, corruption and the integrity of democratic institutions against the backdrop of the contested presidential election in Nigeria.

In this last post as part of the ‘Maputo at 20’ series, we speak with Hon. Commissioner Ramatoulie Janet Sallah-Njie, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, about the future of the Maputo Protocol, it’s potential for advancing women's rights in Africa, and the challenges that need to be addressed for its full realisation.

At the core of a democratic society, states are to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to ensure that citizens have an effective opportunity to enjoy the right to vote. In this post, Thuleleni engages in a brief comparative analysis of the right to vote in Africa. In addition, she gives us a 101 on electoral democracy, democracy values, and the electoral institutions that ensure these values.

In spite of the Maputo Protocol's clear prohibition of Violence Against Women (VAW), the ongoing prevalence of violence in Africa has spurred calls for a regional treaty aimed at eradicating such violence. Against this backdrop, Adetokunbo Johnson reflects on the innovation of the Maputo Protocol's explicit VAW prohibition and questions the need for an additional instrument.

Reflecting on the progress made since the inception of the Maputo Protocol, Kerigo Odada interrogates how health financing and resource allocation have affected the realisation of reproductive rights in Africa. The author calls on state parties to bridge the gap between political commitment and legal implementation by directing resources towards bolstering reproductive health initiatives as mandated by the Protocol.

In the wake of a recent military coup in Niger, both the AU and ECOWAS have strongly denounced this unconstitutional power shift. ECOWAS, taking a firmer stance, has also enforced sanctions on Niger. In this blog post, Linda Mushoriwa discusses the effectiveness of measures such as sanctions and military action in response to unconstitutional changes of governments (UCG).

La mise en œuvre du Protocole de Maputo est supervisée par deux institutions des droits de l'homme de l'Union africaine. Dans cet article de blog, Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz nous guide à travers les étapes entreprises par la Commission africaine et la Cour africaine pour superviser la réalisation du Protocole de Maputo.

The implementation of the Maputo Protocol is overseen by two African Union human rights institutions. In this blog post, Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz takes us through the steps that have been taken by the African Commission and the African Court as they oversee the realization of the Maputo Protocol.

Last month, the Kenyan Court of Appeal ruled that life imprisonment sentence violates fundamental constitutional rights. Joshua Nyawa explores the Court's reasoning and the decision’s far-reaching implications for Kenyan jurisprudence.

In this week’s blog post, Matilda Lasseko-Phooko explores the implementation of the Maputo Protocol and sheds light on the role played by women leaders in making this possible.