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The member states of the African Union are the independent countries within the African continent that collectively work towards the union's goals of promoting unity, economic development, and peace.
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Mwita v United Republic of Tanzania (Application No. 044/2016) [2024] AfCHPR 5 (13 February 2024) 13 February 2024 William c République-Unie De Tanzanie (Requête N° 030/2016) [2024] AfCHPR 3 (13 février 2024) 13 February 2024 Gabriel et un autre c République-Unie de Tanzanie (Requête N° 050/2016) [2024] AfCHPR 4 (13 février 2024) 13 February 2024 William v United Republic of Tanzania (Application No. 030/2016) [2024] AfCHPR 3 (13 February 2024) 13 February 2024 Mwita c République-Unie De Tanzanie (Requête N° 044/2016) [2024] AfCHPR 5 (13 février 2024) 13 February 2024 View more judgmentsRecent Legal Instruments
Standard of Operating Procedures for Working Groups as Special Mechanisms within the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) 8 September 2020 Revised Constitution of the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) 18 August 2018 Treaty of the Southern African Development Community 18 August 2018 Protocol on Trade in Goods 21 March 2018 Protocol on Rules and Procedures on the Settlement of Disputes 21 March 2018 View more legal instrumentsRecent Soft Law
Résolution sur la situation des droits de l'homme et la crise humanitaire causée par le conflit armé en cours en République du Soudan 29 December 2023 Resolution on the human rights situation and humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing armed conflict in the Republic of The Sudan 29 December 2023 Décision sur les Leaders Africains Pour L’initiative Pour la Nutrition 29 October 2023 Communique of the 1180th meeting of the PSC, held on 23 October 2023, dedicated to the situation in the Republic of Gabon 20 October 2023 Communiqué de la 1180ème réunion du CPS tenue le 23 octobre 2023 et consacrée à la situation en République du Niger 20 October 2023 View more Soft LawRecent Reports and Guides
Adopté par le Conseil de Paix et de Sécurité (CPS) de l'Union africaine (UA) lors de sa 1202e réunion tenue le 27 février 2024, sur la lutte contre l'utilisation d'enfants soldats. 27 February 2024 Communique of the 1202nd meeting of the PSC held on 27 February 2024 on Briefing on the Situation in South Sudan 27 February 2024 Report of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union on its activities and the state of Peace and Security in Africa (Reporting Period: January to December 2023) 18 February 2024 Communique of the Peace and Security Council on Health Security and the Promotion of Peace and Security in the Continent PSC/PR/COMM.1200 (2024) 8 February 2024 Adopté par le Conseil de paix et de sécurité (CPS) de l'Union africaine (UA) à sa 1200e réunion tenue le 8 février 2024 sur la sécurité sanitaire et la promotion de la paix et de la sécurité sur le continent 8 February 2024 View more Reports and GuidesExplore African national legal information
Explore African national legislation and court judgments from Legal Information Institutes across Africa.
Latest Commentary
Prominent SA advocates lose battle over conviction in Namibian courts for working without a permit, misleading immigration officials
- 6 March 2024
- Carmel Rickard
Two prominent South African advocates have just lost their last hope of squashing their convictions in the Namibian courts. Johannesburg advocates, Mike Hellens SC and Dawie Joubert SC, had been found guilty on two counts, first, working as legal practitioners without an employment permit, and second, giving false or misleading information to immigration officers when they entered the country in 2019. Though they had gone to Namibia to appear in court in a bail application, they told the immigration officials they were there for a ‘visit’ and for a ‘meeting’. Both appealed against their conviction but they had also asked for a judicial review of the decision. In the high court they lost their appeal but won on the review. The outcome in both matters were taken to the apex supreme court for a final word. In December 2023, they lost their appeal at the supreme court. What would that same court say when the state appealed against the review finding? The supreme court has now given its answer: it found the review, that had favoured Hellens and Joubert, was wrongly decided, and set it aside, awarding costs against the two advocates in both the high court and the supreme court.
Are the courts out of touch with the ordinary, and often poor, people they serve?
- 6 March 2024
- Carmel Rickard
This is a question that readers can’t help asking, based on a contempt of court conviction and sentence by the magistrate’s court in Namibia. The case raises concerns about a lack of sensitivity and awareness of that court to the daily difficulties of poor people it serves. The accused in the case, Festus Shimmy, was sent to prison for three months because he wore ‘short pants’ to a court hearing and the magistrate convicted him of contempt of court for doing so. Explaining his attire, Shimmy told the court that his long trousers were very dirty and so he had worn the shorts. To make matters worse, his case was not sent to the high court on review ‘without delay’, as the law requires in contempt of court matters, but only arrived for review well after the three-month sentence had expired. This meant that even though the high court set aside his conviction and sentence, this came too late for Shimmy. Further, the high court pointed out that the magistrate imposed a fine of N$500, though the law clearly states the maximum is N$100.
Where officials, authorised to take decisions themselves, instead insist on unnecessary litigation before overcrowded courts, they could face costs orders – judge
- 5 March 2024
- Carmel Rickard
Faced with growing court backlogs, judges around the world are looking for new ways to reduce delays experienced by litigants. A new decision from Canada shows a judge warning that he would have been willing to order costs against officials who could have resolved a problem themselves, but who instead insisted that the court should do so.
Uganda’s president chastises chief justice over litigation outcome, orders action to rectify matters: profession divided over response
- 22 February 2024
- Carmel Rickard
It took time to get going, but a letter by Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni (pictured) to the country’s chief justice has sparked a row that shows no sign of blowing over. The letter complained about a court decision and urged that the CJ should take action in the wake of that decision. The letter, written in December 2023, dealt with a visit to Museveni by one of the parties to a court case, and castigated the CJ for the decision taken by a member of the judiciary in relation to the case. Though there was initially no public reaction from the CJ, the judiciary and other members of the profession, the matter blew up more than a month later, in a way that adds to growing concern about the health of judicial independence in Uganda.
Kenya’s judicial leaders issue strong re-statement of judicial independence
- 22 February 2024
- Carmel Rickard
Judicial independence in Kenya has been under some serious threats recently, particularly from the president, William Ruto, and other members of government. Threats to judicial independence are a problem in other countries as well and the judiciary sometimes seems to take refuge in silence on this issue. However, this week, following a consultative meeting involving the heads of all the country’s courts, Kenya’s top judges issued a wide-ranging statement, dealing with judicial independence, as well as claims of corruption in the judiciary, and ways in which the courts could improve to offer a better service to the public.