Women play a vital role in cross-border trade in Africa and are explicitly recognized under the SDG 5 (gender equality) and Agenda 2063 of African Union (AU) that targets a prosperous and comprehensive development of Africa.[i] Again and again, women traders face diverse non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in cross-border trade ranging from customs restrictions and confiscation…
Category: Human Rights
The 2021/2022 rainy season in Malawi will among other things be remembered by the devastating images of houses submerged in water, flooded rivers, and roads that have been cut off. All these stand out as effects of Tropical Storm Ana. The devastating effects of the storm led to the president declaring a state of National…
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as Female Circumcision (FC) is a traditionally deep-rooted practice in East Africa. However, most countries in the world and international organisations view it as a violation of fundamental human rights, such as the right to physical integrity.Therefore, different legal frameworks trying to protect girls and women from female circumcision…
Two mass graves were recently discovered in Malawi containing a total of 29 bodies believed to be Ethiopian migrants.[1] It’s a tragic discovery that underscores, once again, the perils of irregular migration along what is known as the Southern Route. Each year, thousands of migrants from the East and Horn of Africa (and sometimes from…
In Africa, the significances of climate change include, among other aspects, the transformation of weather patterns, biodiversity destruction and wider occurrence of more infectious diseases. All these events, in their turn lead to food insecurity, human forced displacement, and water shortages. Marginalised and vulnerable people often experience the worst effects of climate change. They often…
“Every day I am working. In the morning I go to the bus station, I clean a bus, then I go to sell vegetables. I am proud of my work […] because I earn my own money. […] But I am young, and I want to go back to school.” Meshak, a 14-year-old boy living…
Dear Colleagues, The Chair of African Legal Studies at the University of Bayreuth in cooperation with Rhodes University would like to invite you to our debates series on intractable problems of human rights in Africa: Everyone’s Human Rights financed by the Cluster of Excellence Africa Multiple 26 October – 30 November 2022 from 11.00 AM…
It is almost unanimously agreed upon that between 1904 and 1908 the German Empire committed genocide after today’s understanding (in the following “genocide”)[1] against the ethnic groups of Ovaherero and Nama in what today is Namibia,[2] as approximately 60,000 to 100,000 people – 80 % of the Ovaherero and 60 % of the Nama population…
OPINION Sifa 16 September 2022 Beginning of Queer visibility In 2011, the Tunisian people overthrew the regime of the despotic ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his familial clan through popular uprising. In addition to this macro-level change, the revolution opened opportunities and spaces for challenging multiple oppressions in everyday life. For example, the…
OPINION Rosa Ojwang 29 July 2022 I advocate for LGBTQI+ rights because I am a black, African woman, who has benefitted from the historical social justice movements, particularly, the Civil Rights and Feminist struggles for equality. I understand my history, and I choose not to merely benefit from the sweat, tears, and sacrifice of prior…