The Place of Culture at the International Criminal Court: The Trial of Ruto and Sang

by | Jul 3, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I2

The Place of Culture at the International Criminal Court: The Trial of Ruto and Sang

Author Duncan Ojwang

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: BA, J.D, LLM and SJD (University of Arizona), Senior Lecturer, Africa Nazarene University.
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Volume 7, Issue 2, p. 49 – 69

Abstract

Various authors have discussed the significance and role of culture at the International Criminal Court (ICC). This article explores the significance and role of culture in The Prosecutor v William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang. It seeks to reconcile ongoing contradictions, identify cultural contestations, differentiate between the various cultural arguments and contextualise this Kenyan trial in a way that will enrich our understanding of the ICC. In casu, Ruto was alleged to be an indirect co-perpetrator of a crime against humanity against supporters of the Party of National Unity during a Kenyan election, while Sang was a co-perpetrator. Both were members of the Orange Democratic Party. Their alleged crimes included murder, Article 7(1)(a); forcible transfer of population, Article 7(1)(d); and persecution, Article 7(1)(h). In the trial, the prosecution aimed to show how socially untenable structures such as tribalism are used to consolidate politics and might be used to perpetrate violence. This trial demonstrated the tension between culture and international criminal law as it played out in the ICC.

Balancing Aviation Demand with a Sustainable Environment: An Analysis of the Global Environmental-Health Impact of Aviation Emissions and the Applicable Regulatory International Law

by | Jul 3, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I2

Balancing Aviation Demand with a Sustainable Environment: An Analysis of the Global Environmental-Health Impact of Aviation Emissions and the Applicable Regulatory International Law

Authors Murtala Ganiyu A Murgan and Abdul Ghafur Hamid

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: BA (Hons) MPA(ABU), LLB (Hons) BL LLM(Unilor), PhD(Malaysia).Lecturer, Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. (Corresponding author); Professor of International Law, Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Law, International Islamic University, Malaysia.
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Volume 7, Issue 2, p. 70 – 112

Abstract

An increase in the volume of air transportation worldwide is responsible for the increase in the global discharge of aviation emissions into the environment. The impact of aircraft emissions on human health and the global environment includes: circulation of low quality air; respiratory diseases; high mortality rates; pollution of the atmosphere and stratosphere; global warming and climate change. To mitigate the above problem, the United Nations embarked on efforts to bring about the global reduction in aviation emissions through the instrumentality of law. This article analyses the impact of aviation emissions on human health and the global environment. It also analyses the international laws for regulating aviation emissions with a view to ensuring that the increase in the level of aviation emissions is effectively regulated and does not hamper the growth of aviation transportation. It is found that the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, as well as the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) Annex 16 Vol II, Chicago Convention 1944 need to be improved upon in order to manage the impact of aviation emissions. The effective implementation of the ICAO SARPs is recommended as a way to ensure a sufficient reduction in aviation emissions and protection of a sustainable environment.

Sustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources in Kenya: A Case for Communities’ Free, Prior and Informed Consent in Oil and Gas Projects

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

Sustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources in Kenya: A Case for Communities’ Free, Prior and Informed Consent in Oil and Gas Projects

Authors Rodgers Otieno Odhiambo

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 1 – 23

Abstract

This article attempts to analyse the development of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as an international law principle, its nature and its essence. Further, the article seeks to illustrate the advantages of the principle in natural resource development. Indeed, the principal aim of this article is to bring the development of an international law principle useful in the exploitation of natural resources to the attention of Kenyan legal scholars and policymakers. This is crucial in the context of Kenya which has no experience in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas, and in view of the fact that the country has embarked on various legal and policy reforms within the extractive sector. Being a frontier market, Kenya needs to learn the nuances within the oil and gas sector. It would therefore be imperative to examine the jurisprudence of international bodies and the activities of other international actors with regard to communities’ participatory rights, while recognising that a new standard of international law has developed which recognises that there is a duty to obtain the FPIC of local and indigenous communities when undertaking extraction of natural resources activities within their locality. Thus, the paper seeks to explore the development of the duty to obtain FPIC in international instruments such as declarations, treaties and Acts by international bodies. The article concludes by making a strong case for the entrenchment of FPIC within the policy and legal framework governing the extractive sector in Kenya.

Insurgency, Islamic Fundamentalism and the Boko Haram Conundrum: Engaging the Contest between the Right to Religion and Supremacy of the Constitution in Nigeria

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

Insurgency, Islamic Fundamentalism and the Boko Haram Conundrum: Engaging the Contest between the Right to Religion and Supremacy of the Constitution in Nigeria

Authors MO Adeleke, LA Raimi & Olusola Babatunde Adegbite

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 24 – 45

Abstract

This article examines the issue of national security and development through the prism of law and religion and its nexus with the tide of insurgency. To achieve this, it starts with a retrospective analysis of the development of religious extremism and violence as a form of political ideology in Nigeria. It then proceeds to engage the post-independence issues of religious violence that manifested in the form of Islamic fundamentalism, which found enough ground to fester, and was never properly addressed. In situating these issues, this article proposes that for Nigeria to overcome the current state of insecurity there must be a conversation establishing the nexus between the monster of insurgency and the masked rise of ‘political Islam’. This article concludes that in addition to necessary constitutional reforms, for Nigeria to reach its full potential, there must be a collective decision to respect section 10 of the Constitution as the supreme law of the whole country, and this must be backed up by a corresponding strong political will on the part of government.

An Appraisal of Procedural Environmental Rights in Tanzania’s Extractive Sector

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

An Appraisal of Procedural Environmental Rights in Tanzania’s Extractive Sector

Authors Elifuraha Laltaika

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 46 – 63

Abstract

Some laws and policies governing the extraction of minerals, oil and gas in Tanzania offer insufficient protection of substantive human rights. This is partly because the law’s founding objective was not to protect community interests, but rather to expedite foreign direct investment while simultaneously protecting the sanctity of private property as an enabler of respect for transnational contractual obligations. Specifically, the laws in question are emblematic of the broader ‘neo-liberal law and development thought’, characterised by the primacy of the market in human relations. Yet extractive operations put resources on which local communities depend, such as drinking water, forests and biodiversity, at risk. This article investigates whether, by using procedural environmental rights, aggrieved communities and individuals in the country can successfully challenge potentially human rights-abridging and environmental protection-blind decisions through available avenues in the country’s justice system. One of the article’s key points is that by becoming one of the first African countries, and so far the only one in East Africa, to subscribe to extractive industries’ transparency initiative (EITI), and by enacting a law to operationalise EITI principles, Tanzania exhibits unwavering commitment to bringing new dynamics to the extractive sector. However, by disallowing environmental considerations and community consultation requirements from forming part of the conditions for granting resource extraction licence, participation is reduced to a mere technical enterprise or ‘box-checking’.

Public Participation and the Right to Development in Kenya

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

Public Participation and the Right to Development in Kenya

Authors Anthony Wambugu Munene

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 64 – 85

Abstract

The principle of public participation has for a long time been an important feature of human rights law especially with regard to the right to development. This principle has been significant in giving meaning to international human rights instruments and has been a constant theme in many declarations, recommendations and resolutions of the United Nations. At the African regional level, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights have both highlighted the central role that participation of the beneficiaries in their development plays in the implementation of the right to development. Under the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the general rules of international law and treaties and conventions that Kenya has ratified form part of the law of Kenya. The Bill of Rights in the Constitution sets out several fundamental rights and freedoms with the caveat that it does not exclude other rights and fundamental freedoms not included in it but which are recognised and conferred by law, such as the right to development. This means that the right to development, as provided for in the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is a fundamental right known to Kenyan law and enforceable as such. The Constitution further sets out participation of the people as one of the national values and principles of governance in Kenya. This contribution explores the law, policies and practices on public participation as an enabling principle in implementation of the right to development in Kenya.