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Help secure African Court’s future: here’s your chance
Help secure African Court’s future: here’s your chance

One of the continent’s most precious and prized institutions, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is under immense pressure. Its very existence as a human rights court for the continent is at stake – and now you can join in doing something about it. The court is asking for input on its next five-year plan and we urge you to take this plea for helpful ideas very seriously. Celebrate Africa Day by ensuring your voice is heard on the court’s future role!

Parliament’s ‘contempt’ raised in challenge to Tanzania’s bail-ban laws
Parliament’s ‘contempt’ raised in challenge to Tanzania’s bail-ban laws

Tanzania’s bail laws have been brought into line with the country’s constitution, following an application by a member of the legal profession. But in the aftermath of the decision there’s confusion and concern, mostly related to the appeal noted by the government the day after judgment was delivered this week. The high court judgment by three judges deals with the problem that the law makes certain offences ‘unbailable’. How does this square with judicial discretion, the petitioner asked.

African aviation post COVID-19 – Where to?
African aviation post COVID-19 – Where to?

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), aviation contributes to 2.6 % of Africa’s GDP and supports an estimated 6.2 million jobs. The aviation sector is one of the worse impacted during this crisis.

Lawyers don't have to pay double tax, minister ought to consult next time - Uganda court
Lawyers don't have to pay double tax, minister ought to consult next time - Uganda court

After a long and difficult battle with the relevant minister, Uganda's law society has staved off attempts to subject members to double taxation. The government had included lawyers on a schedule of professions and businesses that had to apply for local licences to 'trade', though they are already taxed via practice certification processes. Judge Ssekaana Musa had to deal with similar challenges to the schedule from members of Uganda's pharmaceutical association and organised members of the country's forwarding and clearing business. In all three cases, he found the 2017 proposals would introduce a system that amounted to double taxation. This was impermissible and the minister's actions were thus declared invalid. In an obiter note at the end of his judgment on the law society's challenge, Judge Musa urged that the government consult with the law society to avoid 'further litigation'.

Courts should not give up their position as ‘last resort protection’ under COVID-19 regulations
Courts should not give up their position as ‘last resort protection’ under COVID-19 regulations

Courts should beware of giving up their role of protecting fundamental rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Tim Fish Hodgson, legal advisor with the International Commission of Jurists, Africa. Interviewed online on how COVID-19 regulations were impacting on socio-economic rights wordwide, he said that in many countries, courts were no longer as willing to consider cases involving infringements of rights. They took the view that, under an emergency situation, judges 'need to defer'. Urging courts not to take this stance, Hodgson said judges around the world need to make sure that court systems operate as fully as possible, especially in response to people's claims about right's protection.

Changes to Dispensing Regulations pertaining to certain Schedules of Medicines during COVID-19
Changes to Dispensing Regulations pertaining to certain Schedules of Medicines during COVID-19

On 7 May 2020 the Minister of Health published a Government Notice (Gazette No 43294, Notice no. 514) relating to the dispensing of Schedule 2, Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 substances during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Conducting Court Hearings in Botswana under Covid-19 Restrictions: Hidden Feature of ‘extremely urgent applications’
Conducting Court Hearings in Botswana under Covid-19 Restrictions: Hidden Feature of ‘extremely urgent applications’

Quite unfamiliar territory it is to find one’s self emailing a Judge about their case before it is filed (let alone emailing a Judge entirely) and even more peculiar calling a magistrate directly, but such are the extents to which extreme social distancing has led our court system in Botswana.

Posthumous win for Kenyan human rights activists
Posthumous win for Kenyan human rights activists

Many decades after they were detained and tortured, two prominent Kenyan activists who campaigned for multi-party democracy and human rights have been awarded posthumous compensation related to their detention and torture under previous repressive governments. The court that awarded compensation to them also made formal declarations that the fundamental freedoms of the two, Charles Rubia and John Serony, had been violated, as had their right not to be subject to torture and other unlawful abuse. Though it had been many years since the two were detained and tortured, the presiding judge said it was 'not too late to peer into the past and correct injustices that may have occurred in our history.'

Teachers' body vicariously liable for rape, sexual assault at school - appeal judges

Whenever a judgment announces that it is dealing with ‘novel questions of law’, readers need to pay close attention. This is just such a case. It concerns Kenya’s Teachers Service Commission, a body that had employed a teacher who sexually abused some students. Was the TSC vicariously liable for those acts? Had the TSC failed in its constitutional and statutory duty to protect the two children named in the case as WJ and LN, as well as other children, from the teacher’s depredations? – Unusually, these questions were considered by four women judges. One, Judge Mumbi Ngugi, heard the original case in the high court. Then three more women presided when the case was considered on appeal.

New head for SADC administrative tribunal
New head for SADC administrative tribunal

A member of Mozambique’s supreme court, Pedro Sinai Nhatitima, has been elected to head the SADC Administrative Tribunal. He succeeds Zimbabwe’s Justice Francis Bere who had reached the end of his term of office as president of the tribunal.

Totality principle in 'harrowing' Seychelles online sexual abuse case
Totality principle in 'harrowing' Seychelles online sexual abuse case

From the holiday islands of Seychelles comes a new judgment with a warning for all of us on lockdown with kids spending too much time online. It is a horrifying reminder of the dangers lurking on Facebook and other seemingly innocent platforms: even in a paradise like Seychelles, children may fall victim to evil that stalks them. The judgment, from the Supreme Court of Seychelles is important because of this warning, but it is also important for lawyers because of the sentencing system used by the court. Given the 'shocking' nature of the crimes, the judges concluded that sentencing in the matter had to be decided using what had come to be known as 'the totality principle', most developed and applied in Australia, the UK and Canada. It was a common law principle that required a judge, in a case where the accused was convicted on several offences, to ensure that the 'aggregation of the sentences appropriate for each offence is a just and appropriate measure of the total criminality involved.'

RIP Justice Augustino Ramadhani

Justice Augustino Ramadhani, who died this week at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam, had been the Chief Justice of both Zanzibar and of the United Republic of Tanzania. He had also served as a judge on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights from 2010 to 2016, and for the last two years of his term had been President of that court. That was not his only appointment to a regional court, however, and he had served as a judge on the East African Court of Justice from 2001 to 2007.

First-class vs economy-class access to the law: what the US Supreme Court says
First-class vs economy-class access to the law: what the US Supreme Court says

A new decision from the US Supreme Court has a strong message for other courts, lawyers and everyone who works with court documents and with legislation, annotated or otherwise. The judgment restates the principle that no-one may claim copyright on decisions of the courts because the law belongs to 'the people' who have a right to know its content. But the judgment goes further and holds that government-commissioned annotations, like headnotes made on legislation, are also not subject to copyright. It’s an important decision for courts everywhere now that increasing numbers of lawyers and legal activists demand access to court judgments in electronic format. It’s also important because of the likely influence of the US court’s newly-articulated thinking on the copyright status of annotated legislation.

Thai judge dies after second suicide attempt
Thai judge dies after second suicide attempt

The Thai judge who attempted suicide in court during October 2019 , has died after shooting himself in the heart. Judge Khanakorn Pianchana was protesting at what he said was interference in a politically-charged trial over which he presided. His death last month has been marked by statements of sympathy and concern by a number of international human rights organisations. Before his second, successful, suicide attempt, the judge wrote about his despair over structural problems in the judiciary that allowed for interference in decisions. He also wrote about his sadness at losing a job he loved.

Sentencing pregnant women in Malawi – judge lays down the law
Sentencing pregnant women in Malawi – judge lays down the law

The case of a heavily pregnant woman accused of stealing at a shopping centre has given one of Malawi’s judges the chance to re-state the law on sentencing first offenders and pregnant women. The judge quoted international law on the subject, as well as Malawi’s own legislation and prison inspection reports, some of which she had written herself. She pointed out that the country’s prisons did not have proper health care facilities for dealing with pregnant women or infants and that the infant and maternal mortality rates in prison were a matter of concern.

Repressive policing law: scathing judgment by Uganda's constitutional court
Repressive policing law: scathing judgment by Uganda's constitutional court

One of Uganda’s most contentious laws has come under fire by that country’s constitutional court. A particularly repressive section giving the police power to prohibit all public gatherings and protest has been declared unconstitutional and the court’s majority took the opportunity to criticise the way police hound and harass any political gathering not called by the ruling party.

Sierra Leone scraps ban on pregnant schoolgirls going to school
Sierra Leone scraps ban on pregnant schoolgirls going to school

In a major policy shift, the government of Sierra Leone this week announced that it had agreed to change the law and allow pregnant schoolgirls to continue attending school. The issue has divided society in that country, with the previous government taking a strong stand against mothers-to-be being permitted to go on attending lessons in mainstream schools. However, the new government that took office about two years ago has shown itself willing to make changes on the issue. Pressure to change the law has been mounting, most recently in December 2019, with a decision of the ECOWAS Court holding that the ban was discriminatory and should be scrapped.

Banks helped rob Uganda of millions of US dollars – constitutional court
Banks helped rob Uganda of millions of US dollars – constitutional court

Like sunlight shining into dark spaces, Uganda’s constitutional court has named names and pointed fingers at those responsible for a mega-scam that has shocked the country. The court’s majority found several banks played a key role in a taxpayer loss of almost US37m. Now the banks involved have each been fined US10m and other parties to the scam will also have to pay up, though the exact amounts are yet to be decided by the high court. The scam involved a prominent Ugandan business leader and politician, several of his companies and four banks. The court also pointed a finger at a former minister of finance and a former attorney general.

Damage to the environment resides in a hallowed place - Zambian judge
Damage to the environment resides in a hallowed place - Zambian judge

Eight senior Zambian headmen and a traditional princess have challenged the behaviour of the government’s private-public partnership company, Zambia Airforce Projects Ltd, in relation to a building project in an environmentally critical area. Now they have been rewarded by a tough court response in their favour. A Court of Appeal judge who heard the application by the traditional leaders has issued an order stopping any further work in the area until key environmental law issues have been satisfied and the court gives the company the go-ahead to continue.

Judicial Leadership in the Time of Covid-19
Judicial Leadership in the Time of Covid-19

The role of judicial leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic will be critical. We don’t have a single judiciary, or at least not yet – and the different parts of the South African justice system are responding differently.

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