News from Kenya Around ten years ago, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) was refused permission to apply for registration as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) by the NGO Coordination Board. Apparently, the proposed name of the organisation was contrary to Sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Kenyan Penal Code which criminalise…
Author: Prof. Dr Thoko Kaime
Prof. Dr Thoko Kaime holds the Chair of African Legal Studies at the University of Bayreuth.
Why do Malawi’s anti-plastic laws fail where they should succeed and succeed where they should fail. Professor Thoko Kaime reveals the surprising results from his study of knowledge and action on plastic waste in Malawi – and the questions they raise. You can watch the full video here
ANALYSIS Thoko Kaime and Isabelle Zundel 06 May 2022 The africanlegalstudies.blog has sent the focus month “Longing for an Anti-Racist World” into a second round. Rightly so, since (un)surprisingly racism is still “one of the globe’s most severe catastrophes”[1] to cite Prof. Arndt in her contribution on this forum last year. The cruel manifestations of…
COMMENT Prof. Dr Thoko Kaime, Lena Scheibinger, Isabelle Zundel 21 October 2021 As we celebrate African Human Rights Day today; we look back at one of the most innovative human rights documents in the world: the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Whilst the standards laid out in this document have led to a…
COMMENT Lena Scheibinger and Prof. Dr Thoko Kaime 15 October 2021 Regular readers of this blog will know that women’s rights was the focus of last month. Nevertheless, the fight for women’s rights continues. One month is not enough to encapsulate the importance, development and barriers regarding women”s rights, therefore, we want to feature this…
The study found that there are a variety of entities that have taken up an active role against the production and use of single use plastics in Malawi. They comprise civil society organizations, environmental activists, journalists and politicians. These organisations and individuals have focused on mesaging that will propel lawmakers into making laws that will…
Malawi faces significant challenges in dealing with rising levels of waste, despite producing less waste than wealthier nations. In 2019, Lilongwe, the capital city of the country was producing approximately 250 metric tonnes of waste per day and the commercial city of Blantyre was producing 300 tonnes of waste per day, respectively (Hastings M’bawa, 2019). …
COMMENT Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime 30 June 2021 The CRC does not explicitly guarantee children a right to an ecologically healthy environment. However, within its environment-related children’s rights lies the core content of such a right. Both the interpretive as well as the monitoring functions of the Committee offer the possibility of better defining the…
COMMENT Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime 3 June 2021 This month, the African Legal Studies blog focuses on children’s rights, a topic that tracks very close to my heart. In introducing this month’s series of contributions, I discuss children’s rights in relation to another topic of great interest in my practice as a public international lawyer:…