Model Law on Access to Information for Africa and other regional instruments: Soft law and human rights in Africa
Edited by Ololade Shyllon
2018
ISBN: 978-1-920538-87-3
Pages: 255
Print version: Available
Electronic version: Free PDF available
About the publication
The adoption in 2013 of the Model Law on Access to Information for Africa by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is an important landmark in the increasing elaboration of human rights-related soft law standards in Africa. Although non-binding, the Model Law significantly influenced the access to information landscape on the continent. Since the adoption of the Model Law, the Commission adopted several General Comments. The AU similarly adopted Model Laws such as the African Union Model Law on Internally Displaced Persons in Addressing Internal Displacement in Africa. This collection of essays inquires into the role and impact of soft law standards within the African human rights system and the AU generally. It assesses the extent to which these standards induced compliance, and identifies factors that contribute to generating such compliance. This book is a collection of papers presented at a conference organised by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, with the financial support of the government of Norway, through the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria. Following the conference, the papers were reviewed and reworked.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Contributors
Abbreviations and acronyms
PART I: THE MODEL LAW AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN AFRICA
- Introduction
Ololade Shyllon - The impact of the Model Law on Access to Information for Africa
Fola Adeleke - Implementing a Model Law on Access to Information in Africa: Lessons from the Americas
Marianna Belalba and Alan Sears - The implementation of the constitutional right of access to information in Africa: Opportunities and challenges
Ololade Shyllon
PART II: COUNTRY STUDIES - The Model Law on Access to Information for Africa and the struggle for the review and passage of the Ghanaian Right to Information Bill of 2013
Ugonna Ukaigwe - The impact of the Model Law on Access to Information for Africa on Kenya’s Access to Information framework
Anne Nderi - The Sudanese Access to Information Act 2015: A step forward?
Ali Abdelrahman Ali - Compliance through decoration: Access to information in Zimbabwe
Nhlanhla Ngwenya
PART III: INFLUENCE OF SOFT LAW WITHIN THE AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM - Soft law and legitimacy in the African Union: The case of the Pretoria Principles on Ending Mass Atrocities Pursuant to Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act
Busingye Kabumba - The incorporation of the thematic resolutions of the African Commission into the domestic laws of African countries
Japhet Biegon - General Comment 1 of the African Commission of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: A source of norms and standard setting on sexual and reproductive health and rights
Ebenezer Durojaye - The African Union Model Law on Internally Displaced Persons: A critique
Romola Adeola - Selected bibliography