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”).

Hapa Kazi Tu! Democratic, Political and Legal Contestations in Tanzania’s 2020 Elections

Dr Olivia Kokushubila LwabukunaOct 29, 20206 min read
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OPINION Dr Olivia Kokushubila Lwabukuna 29 October 2020 The 2020 Elections actually started in 2015 when the current longest ruling party in sub-Saharan Africa, Chama…

Rwanda`s Gacaca Courts: Looking back on an innovative mechanism of transitional justice

Elena BarthOct 22, 20208 min read
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ANALYSIS Elena Barth 22 October 2020 When emerging from a period of violence, oppression and systematic human rights abuses, transitional societies are necessarily concerned with…

Child Marriage – The Impact of COVID-19 on the Practice of Child Marriage

Freda LouwesOct 5, 20205 min read
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ANALYSIS Freda Louwes 5 October 2020 The Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 promotes the elimination of all harmful practices, such as child marriage, early and forced…

The legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and our collective responsibility

Isabelle ZundelSep 30, 20206 min read
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COMMENT Isabelle Zundel 30 September 2020 It is a major challenge to introduce the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was way more than an American…

Peoples’ Rights in Africa: Bridging the Era of Independence Struggles with the Present

Cecilia NgaizaAug 30, 20204 min read
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COMMENT Cecilia Ngaiza 30 August 2020 Reading through the preamble to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981 (hereinafter referred to as the…

Black Lives Matter

Prof. Dr Thoko KaimeJun 24, 20201 min read
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Prof. Dr Thoko Kaime 24 June 2020 The Chair of African Legal Studies expresses deep solidarity with the protests against structural racism and its daily…