Between coordination and enforcement: What the GBVF disaster declaration actually delivers
Posted: 8 June, 2026 Filed under: Rethabile Mosese | Tags: accountability, ActionSA, criminal justice system, Disaster Management Act, Domestic Violence Act, femicide, GBVF, gender-based violence, legal advocacy organisations, national disaster, National Disaster Management Centre, National Prosecuting Authority, National Shelter Movement of South Africa, political decision, Public Finance Management Act, Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust, sexual offences, Sexual Offences Act, Victims of Crime Survey, Women for Change Leave a comment
Author: Rethabile Mosese
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
A political victory, a legal question
On 21 November 2025, thousands of women lay on the ground for fifteen minutes at the Union Buildings, in shopping centres, on pavements and office floors, honouring the women killed every day in South Africa. I joined them knowing that these numbers are not abstract. Though exact figures fluctuate with reporting cycles, research by the South African Medical Research Council and Gender and Firearms Studies Africa estimates that around fifteen women are murdered daily. Hours after this collective act of mourning, government declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster under the Disaster Management Act. For many, the declaration felt like long-awaited recognition. But the legal instrument government chose matters as much as the declaration itself. Having spent over a decade inside the systems meant to protect survivors, I understand how much turns on that choice.
Does the ACHPR Really Get It?! Human Rights Defenders, African Values, and the Dangerous Drift Toward Normative Regression
Posted: 31 May, 2026 Filed under: Mai Aman | Tags: ACHPR, ACHPR’s Draft Declaration, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African values, anti-terror legislation, apartheid, authoritarianism, civic space, civil society actors, colonialism, community primacy, culture, digital surveillance frameworks, freedom of expression, Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa, hostile environments, human rights defenders, LGBTQ defenders, moral health of society, official panel discussion, protest rights, public-order laws, respect for institutions, restrictive NGO regulations, Sovereignty, state security, women human rights defenders Leave a comment
Author: Mai Aman
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Civil society organisations (CSOs) participating at the 87th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR/ the Commission), held in Banjul, the Gambia from 12 to 20 May 2026, were alarmed when discussions began emerging around a Draft Declaration on the Promotion of the Role of Human And Peoples’ Rights Defenders And their Protection In Africa. For many CSOs working directly on civic space, freedom of expression, protest rights and defender protection across the continent, this was the first time they had become aware that such a process was already underway within the Commission.
The concern was not simply procedural, although the limited consultation surrounding a Declaration of such potential normative significance immediately raised questions. Rather, alarm quickly grew once civil society actors were able to review the text itself. As the Draft Declaration began circulating during the session, organisations realised that, in its current form, the Declaration risked doing the exact opposite of what a Declaration on human rights defenders should do; instead of strengthening protections for defenders operating in increasingly hostile environments, the Draft Declaration appeared capable of legitimising the very frameworks already being used to repress them.
Lethal Skies, Absent Law: Drone Warfare in Sudan and the Limits of International Humanitarian Law
Posted: 13 April, 2026 Filed under: Razan E H Ali | Tags: accountability, armed conflicts, Arms Supply Problem, drone strikes, drone technology, Geneva Conventions, International Committee of the Red Cross, international human rights law, international legal community, legal architecture, Rapid Support Forces, Sudan, Sudanese Armed Forces, Sudanese domestic law, summary executions, transparency failures Leave a comment
Author: Razan Ali
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
1 Introduction
The proliferation of drone technology into an ever-growing number of armed conflicts has generated deep unease within the international legal community. As the United Nations Secretary-General observed in 2020, this proliferation ‘reinforces long-standing concerns over compliance with international humanitarian and international human rights law, accountability and transparency’. Nowhere is this concern more acutely illustrated than in Sudan.
Since the outbreak of armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, UAVs have emerged as a defining feature of the battlefield. Between 1 January and 15 March 2026 alone, over 500 civilians were killed in drone strikes, with more than 277 fatalities recorded in the first two weeks of March. Just a few days ago, a drone strike tragically hit the town of Kutum in North Darfur, killing 30 people at a wedding ceremony. Earlier, on March 20, 2025, during the first day of Eid al-Fitr, coordinated air and drone strikes targeted El Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, resulting in at least 64 deaths, including 13 children, and causing the hospital’s emergency, maternity, and pediatric units to become entirely non-operational.
Safeguarding Human Rights in Africa’s Digital Transformation: The Role of the ACHPR in DPI Governance
Posted: 23 March, 2026 Filed under: Hlengiwe Dube | Tags: African Charter, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, digital identity systems, digital payment ecosystems, Digital Public Infrastructure, DPI, human rights, Human Rights Impact Assessments, interoperable service platforms, M-Pesa, Malabo Convention, mass surveillance, national identity systems, public services, state reporting, vulnerable populations Leave a comment
Author: Hlengiwe Dube
Senior digital rights and policy expert
Across Africa, governments are digitising public services. From national identity systems to interoperable service platforms and digital payment ecosystems, these initiatives promise greater efficiency, financial inclusion, and citizen engagement. However, while digital public infrastructure (DPI) offers remarkable opportunities, it also brings unprecedented risks. Poorly governed digital systems can exclude vulnerable populations, enable mass surveillance, and concentrate power in ways that undermine democratic participation.
In this evolving digital landscape, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has a significant role to play. As the continental body mandated to promote and protect human rights, in terms of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ACHPR can provide guidance, oversight, and accountability in the deployment of DPI. Civil society organisations (CSOs) across Africa, meanwhile, are uniquely positioned to act as intermediaries between citizens and the state, leveraging ACHPR frameworks to ensure digital governance aligns with human rights standards.
Are we really on the same page? Understanding the distortion of human rights law in Africa by anti-rights actors
Posted: 16 March, 2026 Filed under: Lakshita Kanhiya, Michael Gyan Nyarko | Tags: African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African values, anti-rights actors, anti-rights backlash, challenges, constitutionalism, culture, family, human rights law, morality, national sovereignty, regional norm-setting, religion, religious fundamentalism, shrinking civic space, strategic litigation, the human rights mechanisms, transnational funding 1 Comment |
Author: Lakshita Kanhiya Legal Officer, Initiative for Strategic Litigation (ISLA) in Africa |
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Author: Michael Gyan Nyarko Deputy Executive Director, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) |
Too much ‘progress’ too soon?
For the past two and half decades, Africa’s human rights architecture has steadily expanded normatively, institutionally, and jurisprudentially. From the humble beginnings of African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and ‘baby’ steps of its monitoring body the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the 1990s, the turn of the new millennium saw an increase in the number of norms as well as institutions mandated by the African Union to promote and protect human rights, including the establishment and operationalisation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Even with all the institutional, political and other challenges that regional these institutions have faced, they have contributed to relatively progressive human rights landscape, influencing progressive decisions of national courts and regional bodies, and contributed to embedding the language of dignity, equality, and freedom in legal and political discourse across the continent. Constitutionalism, regional norm-setting, and strategic litigation have strengthened the visibility and legitimacy of human rights principles in both legal and public arenas.
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and the Accountability Gap in Africa’s Regional Human Rights Architecture
Posted: 3 March, 2026 Filed under: Selamawit Tsegaye Lulseged | Tags: accountability gap, AU-CEVAWG, conflict-related sexual violence, CRSV, customary international law, enforced sterilisation, forced abortion, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, forced prostitution, humanitarian law, international human rights, legal standards, rape, regional human rights mechanisms, Sexual and Gender Based violence, sexual slavery, sgbv, systemic failures, United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Leave a comment
Author: Selamawit Tsegaye Lulseged
International Human Rights Professional
Introduction
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) remains one of the most serious yet under reported and prosecuted violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The term “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence” refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilisation, forced marriage, and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls, or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict. As one form of Sexual and Gender Based violence, (SGBV), CRSV is both a manifestation and a tool of gendered power imbalances. It’s frequently employed as a weapon during conflict/violence to assert control over populations, enforce ethnic cleansing, or punish perceived adversaries, with women and girls disproportionately impacted. It further constitutes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and can amount to a war crime, crime against humanity, or constituent element of genocide under international criminal law. The prohibition of rape and other forms of sexual violence during conflict is not only widely accepted as part of Customary International Law, but it’s also considered a jus cogens norm – a peremptory norm from which no derogation is permitted (ICC, Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda, 26 Jan 2017, para. 3).
Digital Public Infrastructure Through an Open Government Lens
Posted: 11 February, 2026 Filed under: Hlengiwe Dube | Tags: access, accountability, AI registers, algorithmic bias, Algorithmic Impact Assessment (AIA) framework, automated social protection, data exchange platforms, Democratic Legitimacy, digital identity systems, Digital Public Infrastructure, digital service delivery, digital transformation, DPI, e-government, government reform, inclusion, oversight, public participation, Public Trust, transparency Leave a commentAuthor: Hlengiwe Dube
Senior digital rights and policy expert
Abstract
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is rapidly being deployed worldwide, yet its governance is a significant blind spot in open government reform. While governments focus on digital service delivery, the underlying systems that determine access, inclusion, and fairness often operate without transparency, accountability, or public participation. This article argues that DPI must be governed through open government principles to prevent systemic harm such as exclusion from essential services, algorithmic bias, and eroded public trust and to realize its potential for public good. Using global cases, it shows how integrating transparency, oversight, and participatory design into DPI can turn digital infrastructure into a force for democratic accountability, rather than hidden control. Finally, the article calls for explicit inclusion of DPI governance into frameworks like the Open Government Partnership, ensuring that digital transformation encodes democratic values, not just technical efficiency, into the infrastructure of the state.
International Privacy Day 2026: Why Privacy Is Africa’s Democratic Imperative in the Age of Data, AI, and Surveillance
Posted: 28 January, 2026 Filed under: Hlengiwe Dube | Tags: Access to Information, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and sustainable development, data protection authorities, democratic governance, digital age, digital infrastructure, Digital Transformation Strategy For Africa, dignity, e-government systems, freedom of expression, Guidelines for Integrating Data Provisions into Protocols on Digital Trade, human dignity, international human rights framework, International Privacy Day, Malabo Convention, private life, public participation, The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa 1 CommentAuthor: Hlengiwe Dube
Senior digital rights and policy expert
Each year, International Privacy Day invites reflection on the protection of personal data, particularly as the world becomes increasingly digitised. In Africa, this reflection takes on renewed and specific urgency. Governments, corporations, international agencies, and other actors are accelerating digital transformation, through biometric identity systems, AI-driven public services, fintech platforms, and expanding surveillance infrastructures, among other initiatives. Consequently, privacy is emerging as a technical concern and at the same time, a core democratic and human rights imperative.
Privacy underpins freedom of expression, access to information, public participation, human dignity, and other human rights. This understanding is firmly embedded in the African and international human rights framework. Although the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights does not explicitly reference privacy, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has consistently interpreted the Charter as protecting private life, dignity, and personal autonomy. In the digital age, these protections take on renewed and enhanced significance.
Contextualising the right to development in the mineral beneficiation discourse
Posted: 17 December, 2025 Filed under: Nasubila Ng’ambi | Tags: African Charter, African Mining Vision, cultural rights, economic differences, foreign exploitation, Global North, Global South, human rights, industrialisation, infrastructural development, international monopolies, Keba M’baye, Mineral beneficiation, mineral wealth, New International Economic Order, raw commodities, sub-Saharan Africa, The Right to Development, value-added processing Leave a comment
Author: Nasubila Ng’ambi
LLM (cum laude), University of Pretoria
It’s time for Africa
Home to approximately 30% of the world’s critical raw minerals, Africa holds a highly coveted position in the low carbon transition. However, at present Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) development index is an alarming 0.568, with 0.5 being the lowest index and 0.9 being the highest, demonstrating that the region is living far below the privileges that could be afforded by its resource endowments. Several African countries have taken steps to capitalise on their mineral wealth, with Malawi being the most recent African jurisdiction to impose a ban on the exportation of raw minerals.
However, what is the legal, rights-based justification for these measures? This article offers the right to development (RTD) as grounding for the recent measures taken to compel external actors to engage in domestic mineral beneficiation.
Read the rest of this entry »
Courting Dignity: The East African Court of Justice and the Jurisprudence of Silence
Posted: 20 November, 2025 Filed under: Carolyn W. Gatonye | Tags: cited torture, civil war, crimes against humanity, EAC, East Africa, East African Court of Justice, enforced disappearance, fundamental freedoms violation, gender equity, harassment, human dignity, human rights defenders, human rights violations, jurisdiction, jurisprudence, political sensitivities, rising repression, silence of justice, unlawful arrests, unlawful imprisonment 3 Comments
Author: Carolyn W. Gatonye
Kabarak University
The silence of the East African Community (EAC) in the face of rising repression in Tanzania is deafening. Yet, this is hardly new thunder in the EAC bloc. Time and again, the region has watched storms gather over its neighbors; tremble, then retreat. Its response to human rights violations has slowly been morphing into a modern norm, where crises within partner states are met with studied indifference. No meaningful condemnation, no show of solidarity with those whose rights are violated, just mere silence, setting a dangerous precedent that suggests member states may violate fundamental freedoms without fear of regional scrutiny. It’s from this refusal to speak out, that the EAC risks complicity in the very injustices its Treaty seeks to prevent.
AfricLaw 