Child labour is prevalent in both developed and developing countries and has become a global concern. This is because of the negative impacts that it has not only on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, but on their development and health due to possible exposure to hazardous substances. This article interrogates the magnitude of the problem of child labour in the gold mines of Uganda and seeks to highlight the gaps in the existing legal framework on the protection of Ugandan children from hazardous labour. It asserts that although poverty and a failed educational system are believed to be the root causes of child labour in Uganda, weak and inefficient laws coupled with a lack of coordination between institutions responsible for protecting the child contribute equally. Thus there is need for political will by the government of Uganda to help prevent the problem.

The problems of reception and codification discussed by Dr. A. N. Allott in his article on “The Authority of English Decisions in Colonial Courts” in [1957] 1 J.A.L. 23 et seq. have also been encountered in Southern Africa and something of interest and value may be found in an account of experience of the problems in this area.2

The period covering the first seven years of Malawi's independence (1964–1971) stands out as one of the most controversial in the country's postcolonial legislative history. It was during this period, for example, that the local or “Native” Courts of the colonial era were transformed into the now controversial Traditional Courts and given an existence separate from and independent of the High Court, as well as extensive criminal jurisdiction encompassing offences like murder and manslaughter and, subsequently, treason and sedition which were hitherto the preserve of the High Court. At the same time, the participation of lawyers in traditional court processes and the right of legal representation were curtailed under the pretext of ensuring that the course of justice would not be subverted by the frequent invocation of “technicalities” which lawyers are wont to invoke because of the alien and esoteric nature of their training. This paper is not concerned with the “law” of the Traditional Courts in Malawi which, elsewhere, continues to excite appropriate scholarly interest, but with another equally controversial law of the same period whose formulation was buttressed by similar antipathy towards the legal profession. This law introduced a special and rigorous regime for the prosecution and punishment of thefts in the public service.

All revolutions are impossible until they happen; then they become inevitable. South Africa has for long been trembling between the impossible and the inevitable, and it is in this singularly unstable situation that the question of human rights and the basics of government in post-apartheid society demands attention.

No longer is it necessary to spend much time analysing schemes to modernize, reform liberalize, privatize, or even democratize apartheid. Like slavery and colonialism, apartheid is regarded as irremediably bad. There cannot be good apartheid, or degrees of acceptable apartheid. The only questions are how to end the system as rapidly as possible and how to ensure that the new society which replaces it lives up to the ideals of the South African people and the world community. More specifically, at the constitutional level, the issue is no longer whether to have democracy and equal rights, but how fully to achieve these principles and how to ensure that within the overall democratic scheme, the cultural diversity of the country is accommodated and the individual rights of citizens respected.

In a recent case, reported below,1 the East African Court of Appeal held (SPRY, V.-P. dissenting) that, provided certain conditions were satisfied, compensation in the form of blood money might be awarded under section 176 of the Tanganyika Criminal Procedure Code. SPRY, V.-P., however, was unable to agree “that the award of blood money is authorised by section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code”.

The interesting case of Yinusa v. Adesubokan, reported in this issue of the Journal, provides us with an authoritative answer to a question which has long perplexed students of succession law in Nigeria: can a person whose personal law is that of Islam, by electing to make a will under the Wills Act, 1837, thereby deprive his heirs of what they would be entitled to receive were Islamic law to apply to the distribution of the estate? The answer given is that he cannot. This question, which, as is indicated in the judgment, has not been the subject of previous judicial decisions, may not be one which in recent years has aroused any very great passions. Nevertheless, it is one which some thirty years ago was argued among members of the Colonial Service—administrative officers and legal officers—with a surprising fervour and intensity.

This article investigates and illustrates the role and importance of a rights-based approach to foreign agro-investment for the government of Cameroon when it is required to govern foreign agro-investment activities. In doing so, the article offers an analytical framework based on human rights norms, principles and standards emerging from relevant international and regional human rights instruments. It aims to provide clarity on how local communities’ rights could be respected, protected and fulfilled when and where foreign agro-investment occurs. Consequently, because a rights-based approach requires states to respect their minimum human rights obligations, its use in the foreign agro-investment context is crucially important to help compel the government of Cameroon to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of local communities’ rights.

This article contends that the severely repressive manner in which Eritrea has been governed in the last ten years violates the right of the Eritrean people to democratic governance. In particular, the refusal of the transitional Government of Eritrea (GoE) to end its transitional tenure in utter defiance of its own promises, transitional laws and the Constitution of Eritrea fits the definition of unconstitutional change of government proscribed by the African Union (AU). This article calls upon the AU's Peace and Security Council to urge the GoE expeditiously to establish democratic governance in accordance with regional, international and Eritrea's own legal standards. Should this demand fall upon deaf ears, this article calls for the AU to impose sanctions on the GoE.

New Economic Partnership Agreements were intended to replace the non-reciprocal EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific trade relationship by 1 January 2008, in a bid to further the development of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries under a WTO-compatible framework. African countries and regions failed to conclude any EPAs by that date due to scepticism about the deeper trade implications of EPAs. However, in a move that has seen the disintegration of Africa's EPA negotiating groups and compromised regional integration across the continent, many African countries broke ranks to initial bilateral goods-only Interim Agreements with the EU as a first step towards concluding full EPAs. Exploring an alternative approach to concluding EPAs, this article underscores the point that the Interim Agreements, although seemingly preserving market access preferences for some African countries, are already having devastating effects on regional integration, the very basis of Africa's development strategy.

This article discusses the application of international human rights law by the courts in Malawi. It is divided into five parts. The first part examines the constitutional position of international law at the municipal level and will focus primarily on the position under the current Constitution of Malawi. The second discusses the relevance of international human rights law before national court, with the third part then analysing the relevance of such law in the courts. The fourth part considers the reasons for the attitude of the courts to international human rights law, whilst the final part contains some concluding remarks. The case law discussed is largely that handed down by the Supreme Court and the High Court since 1994.

Food is essential for human survival. When the right quantity and quality is taken, it ensures growth and an adequate supply of nutrition to the body, which results in basic effectiveness in all spheres of life. Genetically modified crops have the potential to alleviate hunger and provide more food, especially in developing countries that have high levels of hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Although the debates on genetically modified crops generally focus on intellectual property, other issues include health and environmental concerns. This article examines these issues with the aim of providing holistic knowledge of the subject matter, which is important for stakeholders, particularly in developing countries, in deciding to protect plant variety rights. The article concludes that it is essential for developing countries to consider food security issues in fulfilling their obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.

This article addresses the issue of how the Nigerian Communications Commission, which is responsible for the independent regulation of the Nigerian telecommunications sector, could be made accountable. The need for accountability is relevant given the local context of pervasive corruption and lower expectations of accountability when compared with more mature democracies. The accountability question is analysed in terms of the traditional public accountability mechanisms of executive supervision, legislative oversight and judicial review, highlighting the limits and challenges facing the application of each traditional accountability mechanism to the commission. An extended notion of accountability, specifically the adoption of fair procedures in decision making and accountability to the public at large, are presented as feasibly complementary to traditional accountability mechanisms. Finally the article proposes an amendment to the pre-action conditions to judicial review to facilitate greater accountability.

Intellectual property rights protection is at the forefront of some of the major controversies regarding the impact of globalization. African countries have in recent years participated to an unprecedented degree in both international and bilateral initiatives dealing with intellectual property. The negotiating positions have been varied and, from a regional perspective, have not been coherent at some levels, with different countries advancing different positions. African countries have adopted regional integration as a strategy to deal with the challenges of globalization. Regional integration is believed to increase negotiating capacities and competitiveness in global trade. It is also believed to improve access to foreign technology. The African Union is facilitating the establishment of a continental intellectual property body. Accordingly, the main aim of this article is to discuss the establishment of the Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization in line with the African Union's vision for regional integration.

The supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law are key features of the post-apartheid legal order in South Africa. For either to have any real value, however, it is necessary that they are interpreted and applied by an independent judiciary that is free from executive influence. This important task has fallen mainly on the Constitutional Court. It has recently been called upon to rule on the lawfulness of the conduct of both the president and the National Assembly and held that both had acted unlawfully and inconsistently with the constitution. In the author's view, this ruling signifies that the maturing court is fully aware of its own constitutional obligations and that, unlike its apartheid era predecessors that were hamstrung by the supremacy of Parliament, it possesses a mandate to check the abuse of power by other branches of government.

This article reviews the collection of essays edited by Aninka Claassens and Ben Cousins, dealing with South Africa's controversial Communal Land Rights Act (CLRA). It comments on the implications of the CLRA for land law and reform. The background to and policy choices underlying the enactment of this piece of legislation are discussed, and the difficulties with its implementation are highlighted. It is significant that, in the case of Tongoane and Others v Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs and Others, the constitutionality of the CLRA was challenged even before the CLRA became operative. The article discusses the main arguments raised by the constitutionality challenge, and raises further constitutionality issues. It considers the recommendations of Claassens and Cousins and makes further observations, particularly in light of the Tongoane judgment which was delivered after the book was published in 2008.

For integration to succeed, the intending bloc of nations must begin with integration efforts that are based on gradual, continuous and concrete achievements, to create de facto solidarity among community members. This is the theoretical premise on which this article is based. This perspective is also drawn from the normative framework of both the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) and the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community. According to its objectives, the AU aims to form a union government, to be preceded by successful economic integration through regional economic communities (RECs). While there are several RECs in Africa, this article examines those in west and southern Africa, being among the more developed. The article discusses whether the RECs have achieved their objectives to the extent that would warrant discussion of, and efforts towards, the imminent formation of the “United States of Africa”.

Although legal transplants are a most fertile source of legal development, a failure to adapt their methods to local traditions and cultures before putting them into practice often results in the loss of indigenous legal cultures. This article examines environmental jurisprudence in Nigeria. It aims to determine whether the failure of these laws to curb the trend of unsustainable natural resource use in the country is traceable to the indigenous legal cultures of sustainability that were lost in the process of transplanting colonial ideologies into the Nigerian legal system. The article submits that neglecting the innate standards of sustainability in Nigeria's environmental law-making (a practice adopted since the period of colonization) has made the extant laws on natural resource sustainability largely ineffective. It recommends reworking some of the laws to reflect the lost traditions and notes the cultural imperative for natural resource sustainability.

The United Republic of Tanzania, also called Tanzania, is a country composed of Mainland Tanzania and the islands of Zanzibar. Tanzania's domestic laws promote sustainable development of the marine environment; however, since the beginning of the 21st century, the country has been importing large quantities of oil, resulting in an increased risk of vessel-source oil pollution damage. Through a comparative analysis, this article examines the laws addressing this issue in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the progress that has been made in the legal environment and the challenges that remain, and it discusses possible solutions and improvements. The article reveals that weak implementation of domestic laws for marine environment conservation, a lack of harmonization between domestic laws regarding this issue, and weak domestication of relevant ratified international conventions are among the challenges currently hindering the sustainability of Tanzania's marine environment.