Tag Archives: Africa

Guide to International Human Rights Mechanisms

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The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission maintains an online copy of  “Making the Mountain Move: An Activist’s Guide to How International Human Rights Mechanisms Can Work for You.”  This guide provides information on the UN Treaty Based Human Rights bodies, Inter-American Human Rights system, African Union, and the European Court of Human Rights.

Making the Mountain Move: An Activist’s Guide to How International Human Rights Mechanisms Can Work for You.

http://www.iglhrc.org/binary-data/ATTACHMENT/file/000/000/179-1.pdf

Protecting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants in South Africa

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The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) has posted online the 2009 report:  ”Protecting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants in South Africa”

http://www.cormsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/Resources/CoRMSA%20Report%202009%20-%20Protecting%20Refugees,%20Asylum%20Seekers%20and%20Immigrants%20in%20South%20Africa.pdf

The CoRMSA site also contains policy briefs, reports, links, and South African legislation on immigration, refugee  and asylum law.

http://www.cormsa.org.za/

Legis-Palop Database – Lusophone African Legislation

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Legis-Palop is a database of legal information for 5 Portuguese speaking African countries: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé e Príncipe. The site includes legislation, case law, doctrine and legal links. All information is available only in Portuguese. Registration is required.

Hat tip to Shirley Gilmore and the Organization of South African Law Libraries

Legis-Palop: 

Projecto de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento dos Sistemas Judiciários

http://www.legis-palop.org/

http://www.legis-palop.org/bd

Documentary on women judges in South Africa

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Courting Justice (2008)

Director: Jane Thandi Lipman

http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c740.shtml

A bit expensive at $295.

Elsie Bonthuys’ article, “The Personal and the Judicial,” in volume 24, Part 2 (2008) of the South African Jounal on Human Rights discusses the film. see pages 242-243. 

Description from the distributor’s Web site:

Courting Justice takes viewers behind the gowns and gavels to reveal the women who make up 18 percent of South Africa’s male-dominated judiciary. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and entrusted with enormous responsibilities, these pioneering women share with candor, and unexpected humor, accounts of their country’s transformation since apartheid, and the evolving demands of balancing their courts, country, and families.

Center for Systemic Peace

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The Center for Systemic Peace has numerous Web pages with historical information related to political stability and changes in regimes.

Adverse Regime Changes in Africa 1955-2004  http://www.systemicpeace.org/africa/ACPPAnnex2a.pdf

Coup d’Etat in Africa 1946-2004 http://www.systemicpeace.org/africa/ACPPAnnex2b.pdf

Major Periods of Armed Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa 1946-2004 http://www.systemicpeace.org/africa/ACPPAnnex1a.pdf

Polity IV Project Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions 1800-2007 http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm

Description of the Center for Systemic Peace

The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) was founded in 1997. It is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system, that is, global systems analysis. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal development. The focus of CSP research is on the possibilities of complex systemic management of all manner of societal and systemic conflicts. The Center regularly monitors and reports on general trends in societal-system performance, at the global, regional, and state levels of analysis and in the key systemic dimensions of conflict, governance, and (human and physical) development. The Center is now affiliated with the Center for Global Policy at George Mason University.

Report on Climate Change and Migration

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The UN University, Care International, and Columbia University have published the following report online:

In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement

http://www.care-international.org/Download-document/388-In-Search-of-Shelter-Mapping-the-effects-of-Climate-Change-on-Human-Migration-and-Displacement

Abstract:

Unless aggressive measures are taken to halt global warming, the consequences for human migration and displacement could reach a scope and scale that vastly exceed anything that has occurred before. Climate change is already contributing to migration and displacement. All major estimates project that the trend will rise to tens of millions of migrants in coming years. Within the next few decades, the consequences of climate change for human security efforts could be devastating. These are amongst the key findings of a new report entitled, “In Search of Shelter: Mapping the effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement”. The report was authored by UN University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), CARE International and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). It was released to the media today during the Bonn Climate Change Talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The exact number of people that will be on the move by mid-century is uncertain. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that there may be 200 million environmentally-induced migrants by 2050. “While human migration and displacement is usually the result of multiple factors, the influence of climate change in people’s decision to give up their livelihoods and leave their homes is growing” says Dr. Charles Ehrhart, CARE International’s Climate Change Coordinator and one of the report’s authors.