Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa

Last updated

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) is a pan African non-governmental organisation whose primary work is the provision of pro bono legal counsel to victims of human rights violations. In its litigation mandate, IHRDA represents victims of human rights violations in cases before national courts and African regional human rights instances.

Contents

History

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa was founded and established in 1998 in Banjul, the Gambia, by two human rights lawyers, Julia Harrington and Alpha Fall, who had worked for the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. [1]

IHRDA's mandate is to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of the human rights protection mechanisms of the African Union, since the most critical challenge to the effectiveness of the African human rights system is a lack of awareness concerning its procedures. IHRDA has undertaken to promote respect for human rights on the continent by strengthening the human rights institutions in Africa, ensuring compliance with the existing norms and making the system widely accessible to victims of human rights violations and other actors of civil society.

On February 11, 2008, IHRDA celebrated ten years of standing up for human rights in Africa. Throughout the year, all IHRDA publications were marked with a special ten-year anniversary banner.

Work

To achieve its mandate, IHRDA uses its particular expertise in the application of African human rights law to:

IHRDA engages with domestic actors in various countries through capacity-building and case-building, and provides pro bono legal counsel to victims of human rights violations. By instituting cases on behalf of victims of human rights violations, [2] IHRDA aims to increase the application and enforcement of African human rights instruments to bring effective remedies to these victims.

IHRDA maintains a focus on the protection of women and children's rights, the right to fair trial, the right to life, freedom of expression, refugees’ and migrants’ rights, freedom from discrimination and torture, as well as socio-economic rights and transitional justice. However, IHRDA continues to pay attention to diverse issues emerging and pertinent on the African continent.

Dissemination of information

IHRDA runs the African Human Rights Case Law Analyser (the CLA), [3] which is the first and most comprehensive online collection of legislations and decisions from African regional and sub-regional human rights protection bodies in three languages (English, French and Portuguese).

In 2016, IHRDA launched an online database [4] of legal resources (laws and court judgments in English and French) related to sexual and gender-based violence in African countries; it currently covers five countries. Efforts are on-going to expand the database to cover other countries.

Board

The board of directors is responsible for policy development and general management of IHRDA. Members of the Board are appointed based on their expertise and experience in international human rights law and their interest in human rights and development in Africa. [5]

Partners

IHRDA works with different organisations [6] active in various African countries and involved in the protection and promotion of human rights through the African Human Rights System. Together, they aim to train human rights defenders in the complaints procedures of the African Human Rights System, define cases and represent clients in strategic public interest human rights litigation.

Related Research Articles

Pro bono publico, usually shortened to pro bono, is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them.

International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, agreements between sovereign states intended to have binding legal effect between the parties that have agreed to them; and customary international law. Other international human rights instruments, while not legally binding, contribute to the implementation, understanding and development of international human rights law and have been recognized as a source of political obligation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Commission of Jurists</span> Non-governmental human rights organization based in Geneva, Switzerland

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and international human rights standards through the law. Commissioners are known for their experience, knowledge and fundamental commitment to human rights. The composition of the Commission aims to reflect the geographical diversity of the world and its many legal systems.

A national human rights institution (NHRI) is an independent state-based institution with the responsibility to broadly protect and promote human rights in a given country. The growth of such bodies has been encouraged by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which has provided advisory and support services, and facilitated access for NHRIs to the United Nations (UN) treaty bodies and other committees. There are over one hundred such institutions, about two-thirds assessed by peer review as compliant with the United Nations standards set out in the Paris Principles. Compliance with the Principles is the basis for accreditation at the UN, which, uniquely for NHRIs, is not conducted directly by a UN body but by a sub-committee of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) called the Sub-Committee on Accreditation. The secretariat to the review process is provided by the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section of the OHCHR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights</span> Quasi-judicial body

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is a quasi-judicial body tasked with promoting and protecting human rights and collective (peoples') rights throughout the African continent as well as interpreting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and considering individual complaints of violations of the Charter. This includes investigating human rights violations, creating and approving programs of action towards encouraging human rights, and set up effect communication between them and states to get first hand information on violations of human rights. Although the ACHPR is under a regional government facility, they don't have any actual power and enforcement over laws. This ends up in them drafting up proposals to send up the chain of command to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and they will act accordingly.

The International Federation for Human Rights is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international human rights organization worldwide after Anti-Slavery International and Save the Children. As of 2020, the organization is made up of a federation of 192 organizations from 112 countries, including Israel and Palestine, including Ligue des droits de l'homme in over 100 countries.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) is a human rights declaration adopted by consensus at the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993 in Vienna, Austria. The position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was recommended by this Declaration and subsequently created by General Assembly Resolution 48/141.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Mali</span>

According to the U.S. Department of State's annual report on human rights in Mali for 2003, Mali's government generally respects the human rights of its citizens and observes relevant constitutional provisions and prohibitions.

Human rights in the Philippines are protected by the Constitution of the Philippines, to make sure that persons in the Philippines are able to live peacefully and with dignity, safe from the abuse of any individuals or institutions, including the state.

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is a consortium of American law firms in Chicago that provides legal services in civil rights cases

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is an independent, non-profit organization with offices in Geneva and New York which promotes and protects human rights by supporting human rights defenders, strengthening human rights standards and systems, and leading and participating in coalitions for human rights change.

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) was a Geneva-based international non-governmental organisation founded in 1994 by Scott Leckie as a foundation in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Austria</span> Overview of the observance of human rights in Austria

Human rights in Austria are generally respected by the government; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some reports of police abuse and use of unjustified force against prisoners. Antisemitic incidents, including physical attacks, name-calling, property damage, and threatening letters, telephone calls, and Internet postings occurred during the year. There was some governmental and societal discrimination against fathers, Muslims and members of unrecognized religious groups, particularly those considered "sects". There were incidents of neo-Nazi activity, rightwing extremism, and xenophobia. Trafficking in women and children for prostitution and labor also remained a problem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Scheinin</span> Finnish professor of law

Martin Scheinin is an international law scholar who served as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism in 2005–2011. He was selected for this position after serving for eight years (1997–2004) as member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the independent expert body monitoring states' compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. While on the committee, he was known as a defendant of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples and opponent of capital punishment, as well as the drafter of the committee's General Comment No. 29 on states of emergency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Mauritania</span>

Human rights in Mauritania is generally seen as poor according to international observers, including Freedom House, the United States Department of State, and Amnesty International.

Media Defence is a non-governmental organization established in 2008 to provide legal assistance to journalists, citizen journalists and independent media institutions. It also supports training in media law and promotes the exchange of information, litigation tools and strategies for the lawyers working on media freedom cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avocats Sans Frontières</span>

Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF), also known as Advocaten Zonder Grenzen or Lawyers without Borders, is an international NGO, active in the human rights and development sector. Created in 1992 by a group of Belgian lawyers, ASF’s main objective is the realisation of institutions and mechanisms that facilitate access to independent and fair justice systems that ensure legal security and guarantee fundamental human rights for everyone.

Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms, often in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, religious liberty, human rights, women's rights, consumer rights, environmental protection, and so on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights</span>

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) is an instrument consisting of 31 principles implementing the United Nations' (UN) "Protect, Respect and Remedy" framework on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Developed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) John Ruggie, these Guiding Principles provided the first global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity, and continue to provide the internationally accepted framework for enhancing standards and practice regarding business and human rights. On June 16, 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, making the framework the first corporate human rights responsibility initiative to be endorsed by the UN.

Public interest law in Hong Kong is an emerging field. The chief vehicle for pursuing public interest claims is judicial review. This is the process by which decisions of the government are challenged in the courts. There has been a surge in judicial review cases since 2000. Environmental issues and minority rights are among the most litigated areas.

References

  1. ↑ "African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights". www.achpr.org. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  2. ↑ "Ongoing Cases | IHRDA". Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  3. ↑ "IHRDA Case Law Analyser". caselaw.ihrda.org. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  4. ↑ "Sexual and Gender-based Violence". sgbv.ihrda.org. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  5. ↑ "Board – IHRDA".
  6. ↑ "Partners – IHRDA".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.