Africa Legal Aid | Vision/strategies

Accra, 30 June 2008--From 7-8 July, Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) will convene a forum on Gender Justice, in partnership with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, featuring the release of a recently published Special Edition of AFLA's Quarterly, "The Interface between Peace and International Justice in Africa," and the screening of the music video “Speak for Ourselves", produced by the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice. The conference will be held in The Hague, the Netherlands.…….Read More

April 10 2008. Africa’s Turn for UN Rights Commissioner…….Read More

More than 100 Judges attended a 2-day Rights Based Judicial Workshop convened by Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), in cooperation with the Ghana Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the Judicial Training Institute of Ghana (JTI) held at the Labadi Beach Hotel from 28-29 March, 2008…… Read More

25 Janaury 2008. VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

- January 8 2008. BOOK LAUNCH! BOOK LAUNCH! BOOK LAUNCH! Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) will host a Book Launch on The Law of the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1988-2006). The Book Launch will be held on Friday, 11 January 2008, at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra. The Book will be launched by Her Ladyship, Justice Sophia Akuffo of the Supreme Court of Ghana, and member of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Ghana, Hon. Joe Ghartey will participate as Special Guest. Press Release.

- December 20 2007. End Impunity in The Gambia. Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) have formed the Gambia Taskforce to inter alia urge the Ghanaian Government to refer The Gambia to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the extra judicial killings of 50 West Africans, including 40 Ghanaians, in July 2005 and submitted a Complaint to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to request the Commission to condemn Gambia's flagrant violation of Human Rights. Press Release.

-July 3 2007. Call to the African Union to Assist in the Arrest of Perpetrators of International Crimes in Darfur. Last week at a colloquium in Accra organized by Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) in collaboration with the International Criminal Court (ICC), on “The Interface Between Peace and International Justice in Africa,” ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, once again called upon the world community to support the work of the ICC and more specifically, to assist in arresting two alleged Darfur war criminals, Sudanese Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Harun and notorious Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb. Press Release.

-June 15 2007. Interface between Peace and International Justice; A Human Rights Colloquium. Upon the request of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), H.E. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) in cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) convened a high level Pan African Conference on The Interface Between Peace and International Justice in Africa.
“This conference is a unique opportunity for the various stakeholders, including civil society, government and the legal community to consider new solutions to achieve enduring peace in the region,”
-Evelyn A. Ankumah, Executive Director of Africa Legal Aid. Press Release.

-May 28 2007. Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) in cooperation with the University of South Africa’s Centre for African Renaissance Studies (CARS) will hold a Public Lecture entitled Africa International Criminal Court (ICC). The Lecture will be held at the Sanlam Chamber Council, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria. Press Release.

-February 12 2007. Africa Legal Aid holds Round Table Conference at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) will organize a Round Table Conference on Volume 3 of AFLA’s book series, entitled African Perspectives on International Criminal Justice. The conference will be held at the International Criminal Court (ICC), in the Hague, the Netherlands. Press Release.

-December 1-2 2006. The new African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights will be presented at a Pan-African Conference in Accra, Ghana by international and African leaders, including the President of Ghana, the President of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations Assistant Secretary General and the Chief Justice of Ghana.
Convened jointly by AFLA and the ministry of Justice of Ghana, the event will celebrate the inauguration of the new African Court and allow civil society leaders from across Africa to engage in discussion with the justices about issues facing the Court. Press Release.

-October 21 2006. African Day of Human Rights. At the Fifth Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights held in Benghazi, Libya, in 1989, the Commission passed a Resolution proclaiming 21 October of every year as an African Day of Human Rights. Press Release.

-August 2006. In the case of The Republic, (plaintiff) -v- Alice Williams (defendant), AFLA submitted the first amicus brief to the Tema Circuit Court, Ghana, contending that the use of corporal punishment prevalent within the educational system of Ghana is unconstitutional, unlawful, and detrimental to the health and welfare of the child and an unnecessary impediment to educational excellence in this country. Press Release.

South-North Dialogue on “The Reconstruction of Africa Within the Context of AU-NEPAD"

Under the auspices of Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), a symposium, heralded as the South-North Dialogue on “The Reconstruction of Africa within the Context of AU-NEPAD”, will be held in Maastricht, The Netherlands on January 30 2006. The symposium will be preceded by an Experts’ Meeting held in camera on January 29. The meeting will discuss various immediate challenges that arise in the reconstruction of Africa, and how this could be addressed through mechanisms of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Speakers at the symposium will include experts from Africa and Europe in the field of human rights and development cooperation.
For the full text of the Press Release, click here.

On October 20-21 2005, AFLA celebrated its 10th Anniversary. The Anniversary events encompassed a Round Table Discussion on Emerging and Contemporary Human Rights Issues of Special Significance to Africa organized on October 20 2005 and a closing Gala Ceremony, which took place on October 21. Participants included legal practitioners and legal academics, members of the judiciary, NGO’s and Civil Society Groups, Representatives of Regional and International Human Rights Bodies and the media.
For the report of the two days, click here.

For the text of the Message of support from H.E. Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, former Secretary General of the OAU and Special Envoy of the African Union on the Darfur Situation to Africa Legal Aid on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary Celebrations, click here.

African Perspectives on International Criminal Justice
with a Preface by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

This third volume in the Africa Legal Aid Special Book Series is devoted to international criminal law and more specifically, to the initiatives that have been taken in recent years to hold criminally accountable alleged perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The book complements Africa Legal Aid’s previous work in this field, which has resulted in inter alia the Cairo-Arusha Principles on Universal Jurisdiction in Respect of Gross Human Rights Offences: An African Perspective.
For more information, click here.

Accra- On May 16, 2005, Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), an international and Pan-African human rights organization, signed a headquarters agreement with the Government of Ghana. This agreement, inter alia, establishes Africa Legal Aid's Accra office as the organization's international secretariat. Evelyn Ankumah, the Executive Director of AFLA, noted that "Accra is a suitable African city which can serve as the anchor of AFLA's operations. Accra has a functional infrastructure and is located in a country that is open to human rights work."
For the press release, please click here.

This publication contains a collection of papers presented during the Conference on Litigating Economic and Social Rights in Africa that Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) organized in celebration of the launching of its office in Accra, Ghana.
The papers deal with different aspects of economic and social rights, including questions of definition, their interrelationship with civil and political rights, the implementation of economic and social rights in various African countries and their enforceability at national, regional and international level.
For more information, click here.

Seminar “The North South Aspects of International Justice and the International Criminal Court”

April 7-8 2005, Maastricht, The Netherlands
The seminar to be held under the auspices of Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) on “The North South Aspects of International Justice and the International Criminal Court” is one of the many initiatives by AFLA to 1) Increase the effectiveness of international justice and the newly established International Criminal Court (ICC); and 2) Increase cooperation between various actors including Government, Law Enforcement Agencies, and Civil Society Groups from African and Northern countries to increase their efforts to investigate and prosecute international crimes, including those under the ICC Statute.
The Seminar will address emerging and under-treated issues of international criminal law, including gender crimes, alternative forms of justice, and other issues of diversity.
Participants include high-level Government Officials; African Ambassadors from The Hague, Brussels, among others; high-level officials of the ICC; Academics; Human Rights Practitioners and Members of the Civil Society Groups from Africa and elsewhere. The list includes policy makers and politicians from The Netherlands and neighboring countries as well as officials from the European Union.
In addition to the substantive discussion, the Seminar will also provide a platform for fostering cooperation between the Northern and Southern stakeholders in an effort to increase effective implementation of international justice and the ICC.
AFLA’s efforts to strengthen implementation and increase ratification of the ICC Statute will continue with the next Pan African meeting focusing on Engaging the Islamic Community.

November 19-20 2004, Johannesburg, South Africa
Africa Legal Aid’s inaugural Pan African Judicial Colloquium in Johannesburg, South Africa has been claimed as an important and successful meeting of human rights legal experts. The two-day conference, which took place on November 19 and 20th, aimed to sensitize judges and to strengthen the means by which victims of human rights abuses can seek redress in Africa.
The meeting is centered on the themes of the African Human Rights System and the International Criminal Court (ICC). For the event, AFLA brought influential participants, including selected representatives of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Judges and officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), national judges from South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Liberia, Burundi, Kenya and Botswana, experts from academia, NGOs and civil society groups, among others.
The Colloquium was successful in bringing to light the key obstacles facing human rights development in Africa. Re-occurring themes included the need for political will power in ensuring the success of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ICC and the African Commission, the need for continued training and sensitizations of national judges on regional and international treaties.
Concerns also included the merging of the African Human Rights Court and the African Court of Justice, the influence the US lobbying on African countries not to co-operate with the ICC, and the weakness of the African Commission to enforce its own rulings.
The event concluded with a dinner sponsored by former anti-apartheid freedom fighter, Dr. Cyril Ramaphosa, and plans for a second colloquium in the near future. For further information and a list of participants, please see the narrative report.

The Cairo Guiding Principles, developed at Africa Legal Aid's Experts Meeting were cited in the dissenting opinion of Judge Van den Wyngaert (pages 14, 25 and 30) following the 2002 judgment of Democratic Republic of Congo vs. Belgium in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.