Human Rights

This is an interdisciplinary platform for exciting insights, opinions, reviews, and critical analyses of human rights issues in Africa. A cross-section of contributors shares and cover human rights issues related to policy, advocacy, practice, and awareness. The insights shared unveil a wide spectrum where human rights principles and theories interface with lived realities of people and communities in Africa.

Besides the blog contributions, the africanlegalstudies.blog and the Chair of African Legal Studies at the University of Bayreuth are constantly developing new initiatives to exchange and engage with scholars and practitioners. These include research projects such as “Intractable Human Rights Issues” or debate series (e.g. “Everyone’s human rights”).

From Waste to Justice: African Grassroots Leadership in Business and Human Rights in Ethiopia

Eskedar AwgichewOct 2, 202612 min read
From Waste to Justice: African Grassroots Leadership in Business and Human Rights in Ethiopia

Introduction The global Business and Human Rights (BHR) agenda has gained momentum over the past two decades, driven by international frameworks such as the UN Guiding…

Emerging Examples of the Integration of African Customary Business Governance Practices into Sub-national Regulation of  Socio-economic rights: The Anambra State Igbo Apprenticeship Law of 2025

Adaeze OkoyeOct 2, 20269 min read
Emerging Examples of the Integration of African Customary Business Governance Practices into Sub-national Regulation of  Socio-economic rights: The Anambra State Igbo Apprenticeship Law of 2025

Introduction The flexibility within the UNGPs paved the way for contextualisation of learnings from business and human rights. This is strengthened from an African perspective…

African Solutions for African Challenges:  How African Legal Frameworks are Reshaping Business and Human Rights Practice

Paula-Ann NovotnySep 29, 202613 min read
African Solutions for African Challenges:  How African Legal Frameworks are Reshaping Business and Human Rights Practice

Introduction African realities require African solutions, and the Business and Human Rights (BHR) discourse is shifting from abstract theoretical frameworks to tangible enforcement mechanisms across…

Building on Nyerere: Rethinking Business and Human Rights through the African Charter and (indigenous) African Perspectives

Isabelle ZundelSep 22, 202611 min read
Building on Nyerere: Rethinking Business and Human Rights through the African Charter and (indigenous) African Perspectives

Starting on Solid Ground Regions across the so-called ‘Global South’ are rich in resources, such as oil, minerals, cobalt, gold and fertile agricultural land, that…

Africa as Norm-Maker: Introducing the BHRJ/ALS Blog Symposium on Business, Human Rights, and African Legal Thought

Prof. Dr Thoko KaimeSep 22, 202612 min read
Africa as Norm-Maker: Introducing the BHRJ/ALS Blog Symposium on Business, Human Rights, and African Legal Thought

Setting the Stage The Business and Human Rights (BHR) field has long been dominated by frameworks emanating from the Global North, most notably the 2011…

Child Marriage in Somalia: Legal Pluralism and the Limits of International Human Rights Implementation

Ayobami Olufemi-WhiteSep 11, 202611 min read
Child Marriage in Somalia: Legal Pluralism and the Limits of International Human Rights Implementation

Introduction: Child Marriage in Contemporary Somalia In 2025, Somalia ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.[1] Ten years earlier, the…