The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria

The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria

by | Apr 30, 2022 | SLR, SLR V33 I1

The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria

Authors: Ebenezer Durojaye and Temitayo Lawal

ISSN: 1996-2193
Affiliations: LLB (Lagos) LLM LLD (Free State), Head Socio-Economic Rights Project, Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape; LLB (Nigeria) LLM (UWC), Assistant Chief State Counsel, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Unit, Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja, Nigeria
Source: Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 78 – 99
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a4

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Durojaye, E and Lawal, T
The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria
Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 78 – 99
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a4

Abstract

This article examines the importance of the provisions of the Niamey  Guidelines to Combat Sexual Violence and its Consequences in addressing  sexual violence, including sexual harassment in Africa. Using Nigeria  as a case study, the article examines the provisions of international and  regional human rights instruments in addressing sexual harassment. It  discusses the Guidelines’ approach to addressing sexual violence, including  sexual harassment. The article highlights some of the salient provisions of  the Niamey Guidelines on sexual violence, which include the obligation of  states to prevent sexual violence, protecting and supporting victims of sexual  violence, investigating and prosecuting sexual violence, ensuring reparation  to implementing international and regional norms on sexual violence at the  national level. The analysis of the Niamey Guidelines vis-à-vis legislation  to address sexual harassment in Nigeria is grounded in asking the woman  question. This refers to how laws, policies and judicial decisions take account  of the lived experiences of women. Thereafter, the article discusses some  of the gaps in the approach by the Nigerian government to address sexual  harassment and offers recommendations for the way forward. 

The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria

The legal impunity for gender-based violence against intersex, transgender, and gender diverse persons in Kenya: A legal recognition issue for the African human rights system

by | Apr 30, 2022 | SLR, SLR V33 I1

The legal impunity for gender-based violence against intersex, transgender, and gender diverse persons in Kenya: A legal recognition issue for the African human rights system

Authors: Milka Wahu Kuria and Shelmith Gatwiri Maranya

ISSN: 1996-2193
Affiliations: LLB (University of Nairobi) LLM (Dar es Salaam), Legal Aid Clinic Coordinator, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Founder, Amka Africa Justice Initiative; LLB Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Project Coordinator, Amka Africa Justice Initiative
Source: Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 100 – 122
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a5

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Kuria, MW and Maranya, SG
The legal impunity for gender-based violence against intersex, transgender, and gender diverse persons in Kenya: A legal recognition issue for the African human rights system
Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 100 – 122
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a5

Abstract

In 2019, a judge of the Supreme Court of Kenya issued a public apology  to an intersex person for a decision the court handed down in 2010. The  judge regretted the court’s failure to appreciate the identity and human  rights needs of intersex persons in that case. R.M. had petitioned the High  Court for redress due to the sexual, psychological, and emotional abuse  he had suffered while detained at the state correctional facilities. This case  highlighted the various forms of violence that intersex, transgender, and  gender diverse persons (“ITGDPs”) experience on account of their gender  identity. Studies reveal that gender-based violence against ITGDPs in Kenya  is intricately conjoined with a lack of socio-cultural and legal recognition of  their gender identities. The exclusion engenders pervasive violence by state  actors and private individuals. Despite the growing use of public interest  litigation (“PIL”) as a mechanism for pursuing the goals of legal recognition  and social, economic, and political emancipation of ITGDPs in Kenya, there  is scant improvement in policy and practice. The same lacuna obtains in the  African human rights mechanisms. The apology, the research findings and  the unyielding PIL create the appropriate occasion for a critical examination  of the effects of the assumption on synonymy and binarism of gender and sex  espoused by the national and the African human rights system, on sexual  and gender-based violence (“GBV”) against ITGDPs in Kenya. This article  analyses the nexus and how a lack of legal recognition of ITGDP gender  identities and expression aggravates sexual and GBV against the group  against the backdrop of the African human rights system. 

The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria

Role of the police in access to justice for sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against diverse women in Zimbabwe

by | Apr 30, 2022 | SLR, SLR V33 I1

Role of the police in access to justice for sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against diverse women in Zimbabwe

Authors: Munatsi Shoko, Kerry Vermaak and Annika Rudman

ISSN: 1996-2193
Affiliations: PhD Candidate, MA Population Studies (UKZN), Lecturer, Nehanda Centre for Gender and Culture Studies, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo; PhD Public Health, Lecturer, Population Studies Unit, University of KwaZulu-Natal; LLB (Lund), LLM (Lund) PhD (Gothenburg), Professor of International Law, Department of Public Law, University of Stellenbosch
Source: Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 123 – 138
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a6

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Shoko, M, Vermaak, K and Rudman, A
Role of the police in access to justice for sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against diverse women in Zimbabwe
Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 123 – 138
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a6

Abstract

Bound by the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe (“Zimbabwean Constitution”),  as informed by regional human rights law, Zimbabwean police should facilitate  access to justice for everyone. This article interrogates the lived realities of  diverse women in terms of how the police in Zimbabwe respond when they  report cases of sexual and gender-based violence (“SGBV”). Using qualitative  data this article also interrogates institutional practices questioning the  alignment of laws and actions to the Zimbabwean Constitution. The findings  show that the reluctance of the police to efficiently and appropriately  engage with SGBV cases reported by diverse women is encouraged by the  homophobic context in which these take place. The ability of the police to  provide justice to diverse women who experience SGBV can be strengthened  by repealing the laws that criminalise same-sex relations and sodomy and by  implementing regional human rights law as interpreted through Resolution  275 of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. 

The Niamey Guidelines to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa and sexual harassment: A case study of Nigeria

Evening out the divide between rights and culture: a case for mobilising positive culture in state responses to gender-based violence in Kenya

by | Apr 30, 2022 | SLR, SLR V33 I1

Evening out the divide between rights and culture: a case for mobilising positive culture in state responses to gender-based violence in Kenya

Author: Faith Kabata

ISSN: 1996-2193
Affiliations: LLB LLM LLD, Lecturer, Kenyatta University School of Law
Source: Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 139 – 160
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a7

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Kabata, F
Evening out the divide between rights and culture: a case for mobilising positive culture in state responses to gender-based violence in Kenya
Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 33 Issue 1, 2022, p. 139 – 160
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a7

Abstract

The main focus of the article is on the inadequacy of state responses in  eliminating gender-based violence in its structural and direct expressions.  The article departs from the premise that gender, sexuality, and identity are  cultural constructs and argues that culture and social constructs are dynamic  and changing, hence state responses to eliminate gender-based violence must  engage the positive and egalitarian aspects of African culture for social  legitimacy. While acknowledging that constitutional and legal frameworks  lay a normative foundational basis for protection against gender-based  violence, the effectiveness of these frameworks must be measured through  implementation. It is in the implementation of the constitutional and legal  norms that cultural contestations emerge, for instance, in the context of  structural forms of gender-based violence such as female genital mutilation  and marital rape. The main question that the article seeks to answer is  how states can bridge the gap between norms and implementation which  arises out of cultural contestations. Focusing on Kenya as a case study,  the article examines state responses to structural forms of gender-based  violence, specifically, female genital mutilation and marital rape. The Kenyan  constitutional framework recognises culture as the foundation of the nation  and the right to culture in the Bill of Rights, and on equal footing embraces  egalitarian principles which place dignity, freedom, and equality at the core of  societal relations. Applying doctrinal research methodology, we analyse case  law on female genital mutilation and legislative initiatives in the prohibition  of marital rape to identify and distil the judicial and legislative approaches  on the interplay between the prohibition of gender-based violence norms and  culture. Based on this, the article suggests proposals on how the progressive  aspects of African culture that resonate with the egalitarian constitutional  structure can be engaged in state responses to gender-based violence. 

South Africa’s Engagement with International Human Rights Law

by | Jan 19, 2022 | SLR, SLR V32 I3

South Africa’s Engagement with International Human Rights Law

Author: Judge Navi Pillay

ISSN: 1996-2193
Affiliations: Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Source: Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 32 Issue 3, 2021, p. 365 – 385
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2021/i3a1

Abstract

The commitment to human rights is the cornerstone of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. However, South Africa’s human rights record in the international community often stands in stark contrast to its constitutional commitment to human rights. In both international and regional contexts, South Africa has demonstrated an inconsistent approach to foreign policy that is often guided more by political considerations than by a principled commitment to advancing human rights. This lecture provides an overview of South Africa’s engagement with international human rights law in the constitutional era and evaluates its human rights record in the international arena in a diverse range of fields. These fields include South Africa’s record of human rights protection in peace and security operations on the African continent; its record as a member of the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council; the assessment of its performance by UN human rights treaty bodies; and its record in respect of the Covid-19 pandemic, international criminal justice, the death penalty, and the arms trade. The lecture draws on Judge Pillay’s extensive experience in international law, including as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Protection of the Environmental Rights and Interests of Children: A South African Perspective

by | Jan 19, 2022 | SLR, SLR V32 I3

The Protection of the Environmental Rights and Interests of Children: A South African Perspective

Author: Rongedzayi Fambasayi

ISSN: 1996-2193
Affiliations: LLB Hons, PGDip Child Sensitive Social Policies, LLM, Doctoral Researcher, South African Research Chair in Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability, Faculty of Law, North-West University
Source: Stellenbosch Law Review, Volume 32 Issue 3, 2021, p. 386 – 409
https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/2021/i3a2

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly apparent that children are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental harm, taking into account their physical, physiological and developmental characteristics. Environmental degradation threatens children’s enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the right to a clean and healthy environment, the right to life, the right to health, the right to the highest attainable standard of living, and the right to dignity. This article evaluates the extent to which the South African legal framework protects the environment-related rights and interests of children. In order to achieve this objective, the article outlines the body of international and African regional human rights law and the environmental law and policy that protects and promotes the environment-related rights and interests of children. The contribution also discusses the mechanisms for redress at the international, regional and national levels in the event of environmental harm to the rights and interests of children. The body of international and African regional law sets the expectations and normative benchmarks to measure the compliance of the national (South African) legal and policy framework.