DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
SECOND SEMESTER 2015/2016
ACADEMIC YEAR
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Code and Title: POLI 468 HUMAN
RIGHTS IN AFRICA
Credits: 3 credit hours
Lecture Period(s) and Venue:
Tuesdays 7:30-9:20 at JQB09
Prerequisites: None
Course Instructor:
Dr. Kumi Ansah-Koi
Office
Location: Kweku Folson Block, Political Science Department
Office
Hours: Tuesdays, 14:00-17:00
Teaching Assistants:
DORLAH - E-mail:
jddeffor@st.ug.edu.gh
ERNESTINA
Course
Overview/ Objectives/Goals:
This course focuses on human rights in Africa. Students are introduced to
pertinent issues bearing on the nature, contemporary significance,
ramifications and challenges or the notion of Human Rights particularly as
regards the African continent. They are as well introduced to basic Human
Rights Instruments and also to various theories of human rights and their
practical import in Africa.
With regards to the methodology and
pedagogy, it must be stated that cases/thematic studies and focal analyses
constitute significant feature of the course. In addition, the web and its
resources are very much integrated into this course. Visuals from various web
sources are particularly helpful teaching aids in this course.
This will be very interactive course.
Timely and regular attendance at, and involvement in, tutorials and regular
classes would be insisted on.
Learning
Outcomes:
Students will at the end of the course
be able to:
a. Identify
an analytical framework for zeroing in on Human Rights Violations
b. Relate
to and interpret commonalities and diversities of Human Rights in Africa
c. Identify
assumptions associated with human rights promotion and protection in Africa
d. Investigate
and examine case studies of human rights in Africa based on various thematic
foci
e. Appraise
and justify how mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights in
Africa play out
Plagiarism
policy: Students are expected to duly cite all
sources used in assignments. Failure to do so will result in an automatic fail
grade for those found culpable.
Assessment
and Grading: End of Semester examination
will consist of six essay questions covering the entire course; out of which
students would be required to answer only three.
An assignment, to be given in class
mid-way through the course, would constitute the mandatory 30% Interim Assessment grade.
Grading
Scale:
|
Letter
Grade
|
Marks
|
|
A
|
80-100
|
|
B+
|
75-79
|
|
B
|
70-74
|
|
C+
|
65-69
|
|
C
|
60-64
|
|
D+
|
55-59
|
|
D
|
50-54
|
|
E
|
45-49
|
|
F
|
0-44
|
Reading
List/Required Text:
Weekly readings will be provided in
class and on the Sakai platform. In addition, students are expected to read
material from the basic reading list attached to this course outline.
Other
Information:
This course outline is subject to
modifications as and when necessary. The Sakai platform will always have the
most current version.
It is the responsibility of students to
regularly check on Sakai for latest information regarding this course. The
instructor will not be held liable in cases where students miss relevant
information as a result of failure to do so.
All exams are mandatory and students who
miss them do so at their own expense. Students who miss exams for health
reasons will have to seek written permission from the Head of Department.
Use of mobile phones during lecture
hours is prohibited.
Students with physical challenges and
learning disabilities should not hesitate to communicate their needs to me
early in the semester.
All public holidays will be observed
accordingly. Provision will however be made to accommodate missed lecture
periods.
I am committed to creating an atmosphere
of inclusivity. No student should feel discriminated on basis of religious
orientation, physical ability, nationality, sexual preference or gender. If you
feel threatened at any point during lectures, do not hesitate to draw my
attention to it.
Course Syllabus/Delivery Plan
|
Week
|
Date
|
Lecture
Theme/Topic
|
|
1-2
|
February
2-9
|
The Notion of
Human Rights
Theories;
Nature; Sources; Evolution; 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 the basic Human Rights Instruments and Obligation; Human
Rights Promotion and Protection; and also identify an analytical framework
for zeroing in on Human Rights Violations.
|
|
3-4
|
February
16-23
|
Our African
Matrix
The
Notion of Africa; Basic Socio-Political features of Africa: Commonalities and
Diversities
Human
Rights in Africa: Historical Overview
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 institution and arrangements
pertaining to Human Rights; and African Contributions to the evolution of
Human Rights.
|
|
5-6
|
March
1-March 8
|
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
d)
Reproductive Rights
e)
Sexual 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.
Mid-Term
Assignment Due
|
|
7-8
|
March
15-22
|
Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights (in Africa)
Introduction
(Why promotion and protection; and what those notion entails)
Overview
Mechanisms
for the Promotions 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
|
|
9-10
|
March
29-April 5
|
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 points)
|
|
11-13
|
April
12-April 19
|
6)
NGOs/Civil Society Organisations
7)
Public Policies/Programmes/Initiatives
8)
International Organisations/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
|
|
14
|
April
26
|
Review
Revision
|
|
|
|
|
Basic
Readings:
Abdullahi Ahmed A-Na’m and Francis M.
Deng (editors), Human Rights in Africa, Cross-Cultural Perspectives, the
Brookings Institution, Washington, DC,1990.
African Charter of the Rights and
Welfare of the Child (1990)
African Charter on Human and People’s
Rights (1981)
Annual Report: CHRAJ
Annual Report: Ghana Police Service
Annual Report: Ghana Prisons Service
Convention against Torture and other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)
Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979)
Convention on the Rights of Person with
Disabilities (2006)
Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1989)
Declaration on the Rights to Development
(1986)
Ghana Human Development Report
Human Rights Clauses of Charter of
United Nations (1945).
International Convention on Civil and
Political Rights (with the optional Protocols) (1966)
International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
(1990)
International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (1996)
Protocols on the Establishment of an
African Courts on Human and Peoples Rights (1998)
Report of Ghana’s National
Reconciliation Commission
Reports on Ghana’s Constitutional Review
Commission
Rome Statue of the International
Criminal Courts (1998)
The 1992 Ghana Constitution
The African Peer Review Mechanism:
Country Report on Ghana
The American Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of USA
The Constitutive Act of the African
Union
The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1945)
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of
the Action on Human Rights (1993)
UN Human Rights Commission: Country
Reports on Ghana
US State Department: Human Rights
Country on Ghana
Useful
Web Links
Office of the UN High Commission for
Human Rights, Geneva: www.ohchr.org
ILO, Geneva: www.icj-cij.org
ICJ, The Hague: www.icj-cij.org
Official Documents of the UN: http://documents.un.org/
Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
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