The outsourcing of traditionally military functions in Africa to private military companies (PMCs) such as the Wagner Group and the Africa Corps has been accompanied by violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. According to the International Law Commission’s Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, state responsibility for these violations can be imputed to the states that employ PMCs to function as their agents, to exercise government authority or to act in the vacuum left by official authorities. States that do not intervene to prevent these abuses fail their obligations of due diligence through persistent non-action and should not be excused from demanding accountability by immunity agreements between the host and hiring states. We explore the possibility of the communitarian invocation of state responsibility by third-party states, on behalf of victims, in order to end impunity, drive accountability and secure effective redress for victims.

While it is evident that the burden-sharing proposed by the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) is a form of solidarity, it remains to be seen whether this represents solidarity between states to the exclusion of refugees themselves. If so, this may justify the critical conclusion drawn by renowned refugee scholar James Hathaway that the GCR is a cop-out by the global North to pick and choose who, when and how they want to share the burden of refugee protection rather than a form of solidarity. This article therefore considers whether the solidarity and community foreseen by the GCR have made things better for refugees who are supposed to be the primary beneficiaries or merely better for the refugee hosts. Recognizing that the basis of the GCR is the rights-based approach of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, this article argues that an investigation is warranted into whether the solidarity envisioned by the GCR can operate as a legal concept in this context and therefore hold the international community accountable for the protection of refugees.

Conflict-related sexual violence and the rights of female victims have received scholarly attention, but the same cannot be said of post-conflict rejection and re-victimization of the victims and the violation of their rights. This article examines the rejection and re-victimization of the returnee victims / survivors of Nigeria’s Boko Haram’s sexual terrorism. It discusses how this violates their fundamental human rights as contained in various UN conventions and other legal frameworks. Relying on a legal-doctrinal approach, it examines these violations and the difficulty in enforcing such rights. Findings reveal that these human rights violations continue through the rejection and re-victimization of victims / survivors by family and community members. Despite these obvious rights violations, it has been difficult to seek legal redress for enforcing such rights due to the absence of political will on the part of the government.

The Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) was developed to introduce simple, up-to-date business laws in its member states. It has various goals, including harmonizing business laws, attracting foreign investment in its member states and promoting broader economic integration across Africa. At its initial development stage, OHADA chose a path dependence route, which positively impacted the achievement of some of its initial goals. While OHADA has been widely praised for its efficient business laws, its commitment to path dependence is likely to create a trap for the organization, hindering its further progress. This article analyses the unification of law in African former colonies from the critical perspective of path dependence theory. It examines how OHADA’s legal choices have impacted its various objectives at different stages of its development. Ultimately, the article proposes that OHADA amend its legal framework to achieve its broader aspirations.

Grassroots participation in Nigeria’s democratic governance, through the local government system, has remained a problem, even with the Constitution guaranteeing democratically elected local government councils and their autonomous operation as a third tier of government. The state governments have continued to encroach upon the autonomy of the local governments, thus hindering effective grassroots participation in democratic governance. To address this, the Supreme Court, in a majority judgment in Attorney General of the Federation v Attorney General of Abia State and 35 Others, reaffirmed the democratic status and autonomy of local government councils. This article examines the extent to which the judgment guarantees the independence of the local governments; it finds that the judgment has been more symbolic than impactful in resolving the issues of local governments’ autonomy. It therefore advocates for constitutional alterations to explicitly define the status and functions of the local governments in Nigeria.

This article demonstrates how international human rights treaties have the potential to fill the gaps in constitutional provisions and constitute therefore the extension of the constitutional bill of rights. Since human rights are formulated in approximately the same way in both the Francophone countries’ constitutions and in regional and international human rights treaties, through a casuistic approach, the article argues that the decisions of the human rights treaty bodies should serve as a guide to the interpretation of constitutional provisions by the Beninese constitutional judges. By being reluctant and disinterested in the decisions of its treaty monitoring bodies, the Beninese Constitutional Court deprives itself of an interpretation technique that is susceptible to strengthening the court’s legitimacy and independence. Hence, the article posits a dialogue between the Constitutional Court and the regional and international human rights treaty bodies. If at the global level, the use of UN treaties in constitutional adjudication is an essential step towards judicial globalization in human rights adjudication, at the regional level, the use of African Union treaties in constitutional adjudication is a strong signal of African “judicial” integration and therefore of Pan-Africanism.

The touchstone of judicial review in Lesotho for a long time has preeminently been the ultra vires principle. The modern conception of the doctrine of legality as a constitutional device to control the exercise of public power has not been a prominent feature of Lesotho’s public law. It has only gained traction recently. The superior courts in Lesotho – the High Court and the Court of Appeal – have ruled that the expansive doctrine of legality is now the cornerstone of constitutionalism in the country. In this new trajectory, they rely mainly on the well-developed South African legality jurisprudence. This development of constitutional law in Lesotho is laudable. However, the extent to which South African jurisprudence can inform Lesotho on this subject remains a matter of controversy. This article examines the “importation” of South African jurisprudence on legality into Lesotho, the lessons that Lesotho can derive and the future development pathways for legality in the country.

The Constitution of Uganda does not expressly provide for citizens’ right to participate in law-making processes. However, it can be inferred from the National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy and Article 38(1) of the Constitution. The drafting history of Article 38 shows that Ugandans are expected to participate in all affairs of government. In Male Mabirizi and Others v Attorney-General and Others, Supreme Court judges invoked foreign case law to interpret Article 38 as requiring meaningful public participation in the law-making process; however, in Hon. Fox Odoi and Others v Attorney-General and Others, it was held that those criteria were not applicable. I argue that the Constitutional Court erred in this, and that the process followed to pass the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (Amendment) Act (2025) did not meet the criteria of meaningful participation. It was also contrary to the practice adopted by Parliament in processing other bills.

This article examines the ethnic and gender quotas that have been applied to Burundi’s Constitutional Court since 2019. It shows that while gender quotas aim to make the court reflective or to remedy past injustices, ethnic quotas serve multiple roles: securing ethnic peace, de-escalating conflict or confirming power balances. Our analysis challenges scepticism about judicial quotas and independence, arguing that quotas do not inherently undermine legal merit, particularly when constitutional values are at stake. However, the position-sharing model poses risks to judicial independence, potentially diminishing court legitimacy. We highlight the complexities of combining ethnic and gender quotas, and we develop a typology of courts with such quotas, categorizing Burundi’s Constitutional Court as a blend of reflective, affirmative action, position-sharing and power-sharing. By examining Burundi’s experience, the article contributes to the debate on judicial quotas in segmented societies and the impact of identity-based representation on constitutional design, post-conflict governance and judicial independence.

The procedure for mandatory reviews, also known as confirmations, has existed in Malawi since the colonial period. It requires that when a subordinate court convicts a person and imposes a punishment that passes a prescribed threshold, the case record be forwarded to a higher court for review. This article examines the evolution of this procedure in Malawi from the colonial era to how it is being currently understood and applied. It argues that the understanding that courts have recently attached to the procedure does not align with how this procedure has historically developed. Moreover, this understanding diminishes the procedure’s effectiveness in its function of protecting convicts’ rights. The article suggests ways of improving the procedure to ensure it remains relevant and suitable for the purpose for which it was originally established.

Despite the fact that traditional mediation is one of the main dispute resolution mechanisms in Malawi, the country’s formal legal and institutional frameworks pay little attention to its place in enhancing access to justice. This article analyses the extent to which Malawi’s traditional mediation law, practice and institutions promote access to justice. It relies on African mediation theory to argue that the reason why traditional mediation continues to be a favoured dispute resolution mechanism is because of its communitarian nature in its quest to restore harmony in society.

Research on strokes using genetics and neurobiobanking has highlighted some ethical, legal and social implications. Blood donation, brain donation, blood storage, re-use and sample sharing, data sharing, return of individual results, disclosure of incidental findings, pattern and causes of preference for informed consent, governance and regulation, and biorights are some of the legal problems presented. This study, therefore, explores this aspect in Sub-Saharan Africa using Nigeria and Ghana as case studies. In exploring this aspect, a qualitative method was adopted. In addition, the general jurisprudence of law and society was adopted as the theoretical framework and applied to the findings made. It was found that the law to a high level mirrors people’s expectations and that there was an existing social order to which the law was a contributor. It is therefore argued that any need for the intervention of the law must take cognizance of these findings.

The application by states of economic principles in education has not produced good results in access to education in low-income and less-developed countries. This prompted UNESCO to designate countries with substantial problems of access to education and illiteracy as the E-9 countries, which include Nigeria. Nigeria’s status as an E-9 country indicates the existence of considerable problems in education, and where necessary, statistical evidence will be used to elucidate Nigeria’s E-9 status. This article argues that the nature of the laws and policy mechanisms that control education in Nigeria suggests that the country seems to be responding to the contemporaneous demands of global programmes of action in education that are predicated on economic principles and driven by the tides of globalization instead of to the requirements of international human rights law.

The rights of Deaf persons need to be respected in order to prevent discrimination and ensure equality in Kenya’s criminal courts. Inclusive communication in the country’s criminal justice system is key and can only occur when information that is passed and received is understood by both the Deaf and hearing parties. The aim of this article is to determine how Deaf people can be supported and accommodated in order to ensure their effective participation at all levels of Kenya’s criminal justice system. With the backdrop of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the author contends that the State has an obligation to put in place reasonable accommodation and other accessibility measures that go beyond the provision of mere sign language interpretation, if the right to participation of Deaf witnesses is to be fully realized in the country’s criminal justice system.

South Africa’s democracy is 30 years old, and for 30 years the courts have been interpreting the right of access to adequate housing found in section 26 of the Constitution. Many parts of this right have been developed; one such development is that courts have found that the right includes a duty on the state to provide (temporary) emergency alternative accommodation in eviction matters to those facing homelessness. Throughout the years, courts have grappled with the suitability of this alternative accommodation; it finally seems like some clarity has been reached regarding when alternative accommodation would be considered suitable, due to the courts’ recent acceptance of alternative accommodation offered by the state as suitable. This article considers how the courts currently determine the suitability of emergency accommodation and what types of alternative accommodation has been accepted; it further explores the issues arising from these findings.

The right to equality in South African law gives rise to duties borne by both the state and private actors. In the law of succession, this constrains private testators’ powers to discriminate. Doctrinal developments bear this out: in King v De Jager and Wilkinson v Crawford, a majority of the Constitutional Court extended the reach of anti-discrimination duties to private testamentary decisions. I evaluate these judgments through two lenses: a normative lens that focuses on the principled underpinnings of the Court’s approach to substantive equality, autonomy and the public / private divide; and an adjudicative lens that surveys how these duties should be given effect to avoid proliferating parallelism. I argue that the judgments are welcome and confirm that the private sphere is not insulated from demands of equality, but they nevertheless neglect the importance of both equality legislation and a harmonized approach to adjudicating the anti-discrimination duty’s reach into common law.

This article explores the challenge of financially advantaged spouses concealing assets within corporate structures during divorce proceedings, using the English legal framework as a reference point for potential reforms in Ghana. Although Ghana has made significant strides in ensuring the equitable distribution of marital property, these efforts may be insufficient if the concealment of personal or marital assets within corporate entities is not adequately addressed. The study focuses on the English legal distinction between piercing and lifting the corporate veil. It highlights that while piercing the corporate veil is a stringent measure used sparingly and typically in cases of fraud or evasion, lifting the veil is more pertinent in matrimonial disputes for revealing the actual control and ownership of assets. The article advocates for a clearer and more systematic application of the veil-lifting principles in Ghanaian law to expose hidden marital and personal assets effectively. By adopting these principles, Ghana can strengthen its legal framework to ensure a more equitable distribution of marital assets and achieve fairer outcomes in divorce proceedings.

The writer, Chimamanda Adichie, was sent out of an Nsukka chapel for wearing a short-sleeved blouse. The TV presenter, Funmi Iyanda, was harassed by police for wearing a knee-length dress. Nigeria’s response to a suit at the ECOWAS Court of Justice brought by an actress, Dorothy Njemanze, included that she “dress[ed] naked or half naked”. Firdaus Amasa was initially denied call to the Nigerian bar because she wore a hijab beneath her lawyer’s wig, and several young women have been decamped from the mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme for wearing skirts instead of trousers and shorts. Analysing the above incidents, alongside the Supreme Court’s decision in Lagos State Government v Abdulkareem, this article finds that though it is easier to enforce women’s rights to choose their dress when religious liberty is engaged, the constitutionally guaranteed protection against degrading treatment is one thread that runs across all instances of policing women’s dress. Consequently, prioritizing dignity rights for Nigeria’s womenfolk will shield them from indignities associated with policing their dress choices.

Surrogacy, the engagement of third parties to perform biological roles, presents complex regulatory dilemmas. It raises questions about the ethics of commercializing human reproduction, especially when viewed through natural and cultural lenses. This article discusses the relevance of geopolitics in regulating artificial reproductive technology (ART) in Nigeria. It espouses the traditional health norm development approach to reproductive governance and dwells on surrogacy as a gendered concept, as it affects different categories of people in different ways in Nigeria. It examines Nigeria’s dominant cultural and religious ideologies against the extant legal framework, including family laws and judicial authorities. The article identifies the loopholes and relevance of geopolitics in the development of ART norms in Nigeria. There have been attempts to regulate ART to exclude recognizing surrogacy. The article concludes that the uncoordinated regulation is due to the geographical and socio-political norm development experience in the country. It recommends a cautious re-evaluation of the regulation of surrogacy through adopting Eager’s norm development approach. This position aims to redress the challenges confronting women in reproduction, in line with international norm development.

After World War II, many countries, including Nigeria, embraced Keynesian “welfarist” policies to stimulate economic growth and enhance the well-being of their citizens. However, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a global economic crisis prompted a shift towards neoliberalism, leading to the commodification of social institutions and the implementation of policies such as privatization, trade liberalization and deregulation in Nigeria. This shift had a significant impact on Nigeria’s socio-legal economy, particularly in terms of property rights in company ownership. The article raises concerns about the structural injustice and growing inequality resulting from these neoliberal policies. It advocates for a legal framework that addresses these issues and proposes reconceptualizing private property rights in company ownership in Nigeria. This proposed framework aims to counter the dominance and power of property-owning elites and mitigate the structural injustice induced by neoliberal policies in Nigeria.