Recent legislative developments in Africa have focused international attention on the legal status of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the continent. Attempts by various African governments to revise or introduce new legislation on same-sex sexual conduct and marriage, and the response of the international community, has sparked extensive coverage of the associated political, social and cultural controversies. Away from the headlines are several African countries that have never criminalised same- sex sexual conduct and that are outliers to the apparent ‘trend’ of discriminatory legislation in the continent. One of these is Rwanda. Compared with the situation in neighbouring countries, state-sponsored homophobia appears negligible in Rwanda, and violent attacks are minimal. In the international arena, Rwanda has emerged as an unlikely champion for LGBT rights, and domestically has designated sexual orientation as a ‘private matter’. This study explores Rwanda’s relatively progressive position on LGBT-related issues and its implications for Rwandan civil society. It examines the strategies employed by national as well as international actors to advance LGBT rights and to address social and economic marginalisation. The study questions assumptions about the uniformity of the ‘African experience’ and seeks to enhance understanding of the nuance and diversity that exists both within and between countries on the continent.
Values, Policies and Rights
The author claims that the battle for global sustainability will be won or lost in cities. Yet the UN’s Habitat III conference was argued in a 10-point manifesto that resulted from a convening of the Second World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments to miss the voices of the individuals and groups who actually run those cities. Mayors and other leaders from more than 500 cities formed a collective voice calling for “A Seat at the Global Table.” Their manifesto lays out why local governments need to be integrated into international talks traditionally reserved for national policymakers. With support from key figures such as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the assembly pushed for a “paradigm shift in global governance” that would give local leaders more say in what strategies to implement and how. sign and adopt it. The UCLG named Parks Tau, the former mayor of Johannesburg, as their new head.
The Zimbabwean study on safe and inclusive cities seeks to research on manifestations of urban violence, poverty exclusion and inequalities informed by the following underlying research questions: Can the State in terms of both its direct and indirect actions, be implicated in promoting urban violence when its role in addressing issues of urban poverty, inequality and exclusion is examined? Has the state embraced laws and policies founded on continuities of inequalities, rather than a focus on structural change in framing state urban policy in townships, in a manner which does not address those factors that link poverty, inequality and exclusion to urban violence? At municipal level, have laws and policies consolidated rather than shifted gender inequalities in urban townships, thereby continuing to contribute to women’s vulnerability to urban poverty, inequality, exclusion and urban violence? Have communities participated in addressing these problems? The research into context and lived realities took place in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, drawing on the services of 38 masters in women’s law research students who worked in six groups in four broad thematic areas: poverty families and employment, urban environmental health issues, security challenges in Kadoma especially for women girls and access to courts and access to justice. The Women’s law approach assessed the gap between what laws such as Legal Aid Act; Maintenance Act, Administration of Estates Act and Domestic Violence Act against women’s lived experiences and impact of such laws on issues of equality, exclusion and poverty related issues. The human rights approach sought to understand the role of the state in practice against human rights standards as provided in selected human rights instruments on matters such as social and economic rights particularly relating to matters such as the right to housing, the right to work; the right to health; the right to food and equality before the law and fair representation.
This article tracks the shifting place of the international right to health, and human rights-based approaches to health, in the scholarly literature and United Nations (UN). From 1993 to 1994, the focus began to move from the right to health toward human rights-based approaches to health, including human rights guidance adopted by UN agencies in relation to specific health issues. There is a compelling case for a human rights-based approach to health, but it runs the risk of playing down the right to health, as evidenced by an examination of some UN human rights guidance. The right to health has important and distinctive qualities that are not provided by other rights—consequently, playing down the right to health can diminish rights-based approaches to health, as well as the right to health itself. Because general comments, the reports of UN Special Rapporteurs, and UN agencies’ guidance are exercises in interpretation, the author discusses methods of legal interpretation. The author suggests that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights permits distinctive interpretative methods within the boundaries established by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The author calls for the right to health to be placed explicitly at the centre of a rights-based approach and interpreted in accordance with public international law and international human rights law.
Health rights litigation is still an emerging phenomenon in Africa, despite the constitutions of many African countries having provisions to advance the right to health. Litigation can provide a powerful tool not only to hold governments accountable for failure to realise the right to health, but also to empower the people to seek redress for the violation of this essential right. With contributions from activists and scholars across Africa, the collection includes a diverse range of case studies throughout the region, demonstrating that even in jurisdictions where the right to health has not been explicitly guaranteed, attempts have been made to litigate on this right. The collection focuses on understanding the legal framework for the recognition of the right to health, the challenges people encounter in litigating health rights issues and prospects of litigating future health rights cases in Africa. The book also takes a comparative approach to litigating the right to health before regional human rights bodies. This book will be valuable reading to scholars, researchers, policymakers, activists and students interested in the right to health.
The High Court in Nairobi has on 7 December 2016 declared unconstitutional a presidential directive seeking to collect names of people living with HIV, including names of school going children among others. The court declared that the directive issued by H.E Uhuru Kenyatta on 23 February 2015 is in breach of the petitioner’s constitutional rights under Articles 31 and 53(2) which safeguard the right to privacy and best interest of the child respectively. The court further declared that the actions and omissions of the respondents in relation to the directive violated fundamental rights and freedoms of the petitioners. The case was filed by KELIN, Children of God Relief Institute (Nyumbani), James Njenga Kamau and Millicent Kipsang challenging the directive in court on the grounds that it was a breach to the right to privacy and confidentiality and was likely to expose persons living with HIV to stigma and discrimination, among other human rights violations.
To mark Universal Health Coverage Day, WHO launched a new data portal to track progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) around the world. The portal shows where countries need to improve access to services, and where they need to improve information. The portal features the latest data on access to health services globally and in each of WHO’s 194 Member States, along with information about equity of access. In 2017, WHO will add data on the impact that paying for health services has on household finances. The portal shows that less than half of children with suspected pneumonia in low income countries are taken to an appropriate health provider. Of the estimated 10.4 million new cases of tuberculosis in 2015, 6.1 million were detected and officially notified in 2015, leaving a gap of 4.3 million. High blood pressure affects 1.13 billion people. About 44% of WHO’s member states report having less than 1 physician per 1000 population. The African Region suffers almost 25% of the global burden of disease but has only 3% of the world’s health workers.
The UN General Assembly Human Rights Council on 29 September 2016 adopted a resolution (A/HRC/33/L.29) which established a mandate for a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development. The draft of the resolution was presented by Venezuela on behalf of the member states of the Non-aligned Movement and China, and was adopted by a vote of 34 in favour, two against and 11 abstentions. The Council decided to appoint, for a period of three years, a Special Rapporteur on the right to development, whose mandate will include: to contribute to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right to development in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other internationally agreed outcomes of 2015; to engage and support efforts to mainstream the right to development among various United Nations bodies, development agencies, international development, financial and trade institutions, and to submit proposals aimed at strengthening the revitalized global partnership for sustainable development from the perspective of the right to development; to contribute to the work of the Working Group with a view to supporting the accomplishment of its overall mandate, taking into account, inter alia, the deliberations and recommendations of the Working Group while avoiding any duplication; to submit any specific study by the Human Rights Council in accordance with its mandate; to submit an annual report to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly covering all activities relating to the mandate. In his remarks introducing the draft proposal, Ambassador Mr. Jorge Valero (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela), on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), recalled that in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action on the Right to Development, the Council committed to elevate the right to development to the same level as other human rights and fundamental freedoms. South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko, speaking on behalf of the African Group expressed the support of the African continent for the draft resolution proposed by NAM and China. Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko underscored that 2016 was a crucial year for the start of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Innovative and agile cities are better placed to solve major global challenges than national governments – in thrall to the momentum of the last century – but the fight must start now, argues Barcelona’s first female mayor. Colau argues that all the major global challenges – climate change, the economy, inequality, the very future of democracy – will be solved in cities. If nations want to succeed with their policies, cities must be counted as serious actors on the global stage. She argues that national governments are hostages to the momentum of the previous century – but that’s not the real world any more. We live in a world that functions by networking, by faster and more agile contact between cities. Colau notes that it is not possible to talk about a just, sustainable, equitable or inclusive city without speaking about the right to the city - a model of urban development that includes all citizens. She argues that the reference to it in the UN’s New Urban Agenda document ratified at Habitat III in Quito this week could be more ambitious. However it is necessary to recognise the problems overcome just to get this far. She comments that some global powers such as the United States and China resisted it completely; they didn’t want the right to the city in the declaration at all. Thanks to popular mobilisation in Latin America and in some European countries, this political movement has won its place on the agenda – and she notes it as a significant achievement. For the right to the city to become real, however, needs action to transform it into concrete policies and regulations. Colau notes that the most important tests will come after the summit finishes – when we find out whether all these statements can translate into commitments that create positive solutions for urban citizens.
Habitat III – the United Nation’s global conference on the future of cities – came to a close in late October. About 30,000 people gathered in Quito, Ecuador, to discuss the key issues facing cities today and sign off on the New Urban Agenda – the global strategy which will guide urban development over the next 20 years. The author describes the event: Efforts to make the conference inclusive – it was free and anyone could register – materialised in a big jamboree of all kinds of people interested in urban affairs (as well as complaints about long queues). The overall message of the conference emphasised the need to address social, economic and material inequalities in cities and urban areas. Yet - he notes- international experts often appeared oblivious to the enormous progress that the poorest urban communities have made to organise themselves and finance their futures. The main outcome of Habitat III was that UN nation states agreed on the New Urban Agenda (NUA): a non-binding document, which will guide policies over the next 20 years with the goal of making cities safer, resilient and sustainable and their amenities more inclusive. The NUA itself emerged from a consultative process, whereby UN-Habitat collected the inputs of a diverse community of urban scholars, leaders, planners and activists. Its key message was “leaving no one behind”. Its vision for the future of cities was one where aspirations of prosperity and sustainable development are linked to a desire for equality. Yet the document did not escape criticism: How far did it grassroots perspectives? How far did the consensual approach and redrafting exclude key issues? How will it be put into practice? Some proposed, for example, that 20% to 25% of global finance for development – in instruments such as the Green Climate Fund – should be allocated directly to cities. The author calls the consensus around the “right to the city” – an idea championed by Ecuador and Brazil – historical. The “right to the city” generally refers to the capacity of urban citizens to influence processes of urban development, and make a city they want to live in. Social movements promoted this right to denounce urban processes that generate injustices, such as gentrification, privatisation of public spaces, forced evictions and the mistreatment of urban refugees. But as it is not explicitly recognised as a universal human right, the NUA merely encourages governments to enshrine it in their laws.