DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY
OF GHANA
Second Semester, 2012/2013 Academic Year
COURSE TITLE: POLI 428 HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA
INSTRUCTOR: Dr Kumi Ansah-Koi
Email: kakoi@ug.edu.gh
Phone: 024 501 3066
Office: Room 18; Political Science Department, Kweku Folson Block
Office
Hours: By Appointment; Tuesdays: 0010 hours to 1500
hours.
Classes: Jones Quartey Building, Room 23; @ 15.30 to 17.20 on Tuesdays.
Course Description
This Course focuses on Human Rights in
Africa. Students are introduced to pertinent issues bearing on the nature,
contemporary significance, ramifications and challenges of the notion of Human
Rights particularly as regards the African continent. Students are as well
introduced to basic Human Rights Instruments and also to various theories of
human rights and their practical import in Africa.
With regard to methodology and pedagogy, it
must be stated that Case/Thematic Studies and Focal Analyses constitute significant
features of the Course. In addition, the web and its resources are very much
integrated into the Course. Visuals from
various web sources are particularly helpful teaching aids in this Course.
This would be a very interactive course.
Timely and regular attendance at, and full involvement in, tutorials and
regular classes would be insisted on.
Course Schedule
Weeks
I, 2, and 3: The
Notion of Human Rights.
Theories; Nature; Sources; Evolution;
Trends; Legal Obligations; International Status; Human Rights in Contemporary
Socio-Political Thought; and Human Rights Obligations of Contemporary
States/Societies.
We would as well focus on Basic Human Rights
Instruments and Obligations; Human Rights Promotion and Protection; and also
identify an analytical framework for zeroing in on Human Rights Violations.
Weeks
4, 5 and 6: Our
African Matrix.
The notion of Africa; Basic
Socio-Economic/Political features of Africa; Africa: Commonalities and
Diversities.
Human Rights in Africa: Historical
Over-View
(a)
Pre-Colonial/Traditional Africa
and Human Rights
(b)
Colonial Africa and Human
Rights
(c)
Post-Colonial Africa and Human
Rights
(d)
Human Rights in Africa since
the End of the Cold War.
African basic Instruments on Human Rights;
African basic institutions and arrangements pertaining to Human Rights; and
African Contributions to the evolution of Human Rights.
Weeks
7, 8 and 9: A Survey of Human Rights in Contemporary Africa
State of Human Rights in Contemporary
Africa
Human Rights Violations and Shortfalls in
Africa
Detailed Case/Thematic/Focal Studies drawn
from Africa would be extrapolated for analyses. The selection would, among
others, cover such themes as
(a)
FGM
(b)
Gender/Women/Child Rights
(c)
Minority Rights, and
(d)
Reproductive Rights
We would as well be particularly concerned
with the human rights dimensions of the Civil Wars in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa, as well as with the human rights
dimensions of the electoral/political mess in such countries as Libya, Mali,
Congo, Zimbabwe and Somalia.
Weeks
10 and 11: Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (in Africa)
Introduction (Why Promotion and Protection;
and what those notions entail)
Over-View
Mechanisms for the Promotion and Protection
and how they so far play out. We would be specifically concerned with the
following:
1)
Constitutions and
Constitutionalism
2)
Law and Legality/The Rule of
Law
3)
The Courts of Law/Justice; The
Judiciary
4)
The Mass Media
5)
State-Owned/Operated Human
Rights Institutions (CHRAJ would be our case in point)
6)
NGOs/Civil Society
Organizations
7)
Public Policies/Programmes/Initiatives
8)
International
Organizations/Law/Treaties/Conventions
(a)
The UN System
(b)
Regional institutions (Case in
point: OAU/AU)
(c)
Sub-regional institutions (case
in point: ECOWAS)
9)
ICT
Week
12: Review/Revision
Basic
Readings:
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’m and Francis M Deng
(editors), Human Rights in Africa. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, The
Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, 1990.
Human
Rights Clauses of the Charter of United Nations (1945)
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (with the Optional Protocols) (1966)
International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966)
Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(1984)
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms Discrimination Against Women (1979)
Declaration
on the Right to Development (1986)
The
1992 Ghana Constitution
The
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action on Human Rights (1993)
The
American Declaration of Independence
The
Constitution of the USA
The African Peer Review Mechanism: Country Report on
Ghana
Report of Ghana’s National Reconciliation Commission
US State Department: Human Rights Country Report on
Ghana
Ghana Human Development Report
UN Human Rights Commission: Country Reports on Ghana
Annual Report: CHRAJ
: Ghana
Police Service
: Ghana Prisons
Service
Convention
on the Rights of the Child (1989)
International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of their Families (1990)
Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998)
Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)
African
Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981)
Protocol
on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and People’s Rights (1998)
African
Charter of the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990)
The
Constitutive Act of the African Union
Useful Web Links
Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, Geneva: www.ohchr.org
ILO,
Geneva: www.ilo.org
ICJ,
The Hague: www.icj-cij.org
UN
Treaty database: untreaty.un.org
Official
Documents of the UN: documents.un.org
Amnesty
international: www.amnesty.org
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