Human Rights In Commonwealth Africa

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At a time when the issue of human rights in Africa is making many advances, Human Rights Sourcebook and Manual for Africa introduces easy-to-use jurisprudence. The first section covers key principles and human rights norms which are detailed in straightforward language. The second section is devoted to the death penalty, detailing the relevant provisions from both international and regional instruments and offering a comparative commentary as to how the principles and relevant rights relate to the death penalty. The third section summarizes key case law from international, regional and domestic African courts and tribunals. The case summaries detail the facts and decisions and include a headnote of relevant concepts for quick reference. The fourth section focuses on thirteen African countries, yet the reports are a useful comparative resource for all countries. From conducting the research and compiling the material for this final section, it is apparent that nothing like this has been attempted before in Africa. Much of the work emanates from primary research and investigation conducted by local research teams in the individual countries. Investigative research includes visiting prisons, physically counting the individuals on death row and interviewing the detainees to obtain their age and the length of time they had been on death row.

Human Rights in Africa is an in depth examination of the concept of human rights as it is applied in the world today, with a focus on Africa. Though the goals of human rights are to benefit mankind, the concept is not devoid of ideology and a particular social orientation. The ethos of the concept as formulated today in a world of disproportionate resources, avarice, competition, and greed, makes it difficult to implement in certain societies. The intellectualization of the concept has made it easy for many to lose sight of the fact that human rights should ultimately be linked to how best human dignity can be protected in a particular society given the realities of that society, as opposed to an artificial imposition of a rigid regime on peoples who do not understand what the concept means.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) acknowledged the modern understanding of childhood. It formulated what children can expect as a set of rights as distinct from welfare or kindness from adults. This book examines the importance of child rights, and provides an overview of the key themes of the CRC.

This is the first Commonwealth-wide comparative study of national human rights institutions (NHRIs), and is designed to help everyone interested in establishing and developing NHRIs to improve their effectiveness. The study looks at the international framework for the protection of human rights, and the historical and political background to the establishment of NHRIs and ombudsman offices. The individual mandates of various institutions are considered, looking at them region by region. Finally, the study compares the normative framework and mandates of the NHRIs are analysed, comparing what NHRIs are empowered to do and what they are doing in practice, though value judgements as to the merits and demerits of individual named institutions are avoided. Rather than provide a detailed theoretical analysis, the study concentrates on helping practitioners and policy-makers improve the working of NHRIs in practice, and will be a useful tool both to the institutions themselves and to all those who wish to support them.