DEPARTMENT OF
POLITICAL SCIENCE
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES
SECOND SEMESTER 2016/2017
ACADEMIC YEAR
COURSE
SYLLABUS
Course
Code and Title: POLI 468 HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA
Credits:
3 credit hours
Lecture
Period(s) and Venue: Wednesdays, 17:30-19:20 at NNB 1
Prerequisites:
None
Course
Instructor: Dr. Kumi Ansah-Koi
Office
Location: Kweku Folson Block, Political Science Department
Office
Hours: Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00
Teaching
Assistants: Sandra
Adomako Baafi, Gloria Opoku
Gloria- gloriaopoku2012@gmail.com
Teaching
Assistants’ Office Hours: Mondays,
12:00-14:00 and Wednesdays 12:00-14:00
Course
Overview/Objectives/Goals: This course focuses on current
issues regarding 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
Online
Platform: You can access the online platform by logging on to
www.easyclass.com. The access code for this
class is 5P04-02MX. Each student is required to sign up once.
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. This would constitute 70% of the total grade.
The course includes five online assignments based on
the continent’s five sub-regions. The best four of your online assignments
would account for your class participation grade. The total of all four
assignments would make up 10% of the
total grade. Further details on these assignments will be provided in a
separate lecture scheduled in this outline.
An assignment, to be given in class mid-way through
the course, would constitute 20% of
the total grade.
The
participation grade and mid-term assignment grades would comprise the mandatory
30% Interim Assessment grade.
Grading
Scale:
Letter
Grade
|
Marks
|
A
|
85-100
|
A-
|
80-84
|
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
online 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 online platform will always have the most current
version.
It is the responsibility of students to regularly
check on online 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
1
|
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.
|
2
|
February
8
|
Navigating the Online Platform
Explanation
on Class Participation Assignments and Assignment of Countries/Foci for Class
Participation Activities.
Deadline for Signing Up to Online Platform
|
3-4
|
February
15-22
|
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
Deadline for submission of Class Participation
Assignments
|
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
UN Treaty database: https://treaties.un.org/
Official Documents of the UN: http://documents.un.org/
Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
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