Law, Democracy
& Development
Law, Democracy
& Development
JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF LAW | UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE | ISSN: 2077-4907JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF LAW, UWC | ISSN: 2077-4907
Author/s: The Editors
Author/s: Aniekwu, Nkolika Ijeoma
Aniekwu Nkolika Ijeoma notes that, in July 2003, the African Union adopted a landmark treaty, the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which significantly advances human rights protections to better reflect and incorporate women's experiences. It presents a tremendous opportunity for women's rights advocates in Africa, being the first regional human rights treaty to explicitly articulate women's right to abortion in specified circumstances. It further reinforces the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by prohibiting violence against women and harmful traditional practices in the African region. The article acknowledges the tensions posed by universal human rights protection and cultural relativity, and also emphasises the indications for governments to protect women's sexual and reproductive rights within the sub-Saharan diaspora.
Author/s: Van der Poll, Letetia
Letetia van der Poll critically evaluates the traditional African sex practices of dry sex and virginity testing against the backdrop of three key African human rights instruments. The article argues that such practices violate some of the most basic rights and freedoms of women, including their inherent dignity and their rights to equality and privacy. The African Commission does not sanction limitations on the rights of women. The article concludes that African states have an obligation to ensure that the family unit does not become a haven for harmful gender-specific practices. That obligation rests on the broader legal community also.
Author/s: Malherbe, Kitty and Wakefield, Lorenzo
Kitty Malherbe and Lorenzo Wakefield show how roles traditionally allotted to women may obstruct their access to the right to social security. There are instances where women's care-giving role provides them with benefits they otherwise would not have had, such as child support grants. On the other hand, care-giving can exclude women from the application of other benefits, such as certain retirement funds. The authors examine the need for measures aimed at providing assistance to women as care-givers as well as the potential pitfalls of such measures, such as the danger of stereotyping women as care-givers.
Author/s: Bedu, Ronnie
'Ngokoluvo olusebenzayo nolungagxeki ngokupheleleyo, abantwana bangumzekelo wethemba loluntu kunye nesiphiwo salo kwikamva lalo.' Ubu-ethe-ethe bolu luvo busenokungabi yonyani ngokupheleleyo, ingakumbi eMzantsi Afrika apho bekusenzeka rhoqo izenzo zolwaphulo-mthetho ezinobundlobongela obenziwa lulutsha.
Author/s: Pillay, Navanethem
In the 2009 Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay contextualises many of the issues facing women that were raised in earlier articles.
Author/s: Bedu, Ronnie
Ronnie Bedu deals with the judgment of the Constitutional Court in Centre for Child Law v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others on the constitutionality of minimum sentences in respect of young offenders under 18 years of age.
Author/s: The Editors
Author/s: Malan, Naude
Is the South African Constitution a 'people's document'? Does it give voice to, encourage and protect the actions of the poor, the homeless, the marginalised and the excluded? If the meaning of the rights in the South African Bill of Rights emerges through a complex interaction between the words on paper and its 'open community of interpreters', to what extent does it empower the 'practices of resistance and struggle' of the oppressed and marginalised, the poor and the homeless to 'name human rights and to put them to work'? Can we interpret the rights in the South African Constitution in such an activist way? This democratic conception of rights goes beyond, but draws upon Jennifer Nedelsky's idea that a 'constitutional dialogue' between the branches of the State should decide the content and meaning of rights in a society. This dialogue should make specific allowance for the participation of the beneficiary in both words and action. In this sense the citizen becomes the subject or author of rights, and we may arrive at a conception of rights that enables democracy to exert real influence over society.
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Law, Democracy & Development (LDD) is an accredited journal - that is, approved by the Department of Education for the publication of subsidised research output. This means that the articles we publish are subject to stringent quality control. All articles, unless otherwise indicated, are peer-reviewed - that is, anonymously assessed by independent experts. In addition, we also publish reviews, commentaries or other contributions which the editors consider topical or important but which have not been subjected to the formal assessment process - for example, contributions by emerging researchers (such as those in our ALAD section), keynote speeches by leading commentators and the like. These non-refereed items are identified as Forum contributions.
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