Analysis

In this post, the author highlights the contributions of Cançado Trindade as a judge and academic. While discussing his work as a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice, the author highlights his efforts to transform procedural and substantive norms as tools, not barriers, for victims to access Justice.

Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade was a towering figure of contemporary international and public law. An internationally renowned jurist, he was judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights between 1995 and 2008 and its President between 1999 and 2004. In February 2009, he was elected as judge of the International Court of Justice, a position he held until his passing in May 2022. This symposium has been organized to honour the memory of Judge Trindade by engaging with his legacy and ideas.

This brief contribution intends to analyse the three proposals, with a particular focus on how each proposal provides for, or fails to provide for (as the case may be), the participation of global south voices in the due diligence processes. Ultimately, I argue that as the draft makes its way through the legislative process, it appears that the EU seems to have taken one step forward but two steps backward as regards the provisions on the participation of global south rightsholders.

This piece argues that digital trade is an essential developmental tool in a fast-paced world. However, to get the full value of digital trade, AfCFTA member-states must embrace the use of digital trade. This may be achieved by strategic design of the AfCFTA Protocol on E-commerce.

This article briefly comments on few recent court interventions in fintech disputes in Africa. It highlights the important role African courts must play in the protection of the continent's budding E-commerce environment.

The fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is marked by an intensive digitalisation process. Within the process, digital data (physical information converted into digital) and digital technologies restructure how things are done and values are created. Various initiatives and strategies from the very recent AU Data Policy Framework to the Africa Digital Transformation Strategy (ADTS), the Smart Africa Manifesto and the E-Commerce Protocol of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is still under discussion, are intended to galvanize such processes. The regulatory disparity, coupled with the path-dependent asymmetric relationship between actors shapes the degree of leverage they might have over the operation and outcome of such connectivity.

Loss and damage support was one of the key demands of African states and other developing countries at the 27th meeting of the conference of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27). On November 20, 2022, a deal on L&D funding was announced. The development has been described as a “breakthrough”, “historical”, and “landmark” agreement. This however raises important questions for developing countries. To what extent do these new initiatives worsen the indebtedness of developing countries, constrain their fiscal space, and generally make it more difficult for such countries to thrive?

This blog post reviews the development in the Energy Information space in Africa, with a particular focus on the dematerialization of Energy Information. It considers the important role of the African Energy Commission (AFREC) in actualizing its mandate to improve innovation in the energy information field and notes the current challenges being experienced by the energy information actors within the continent.

This blog examines the relationship between Data Protection and Human Rights. It argues that the State has a duty to respect the privacy rights of its citizens and this duty includes an obligation to conduct Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) in cases of high-risk processing of personal data.

This blog provides an interesting perspective to the emerging roles of the African Sub-Regional Courts in protecting human rights in the African continent. It argues that Sub-regional courts such as the ECOWAS Court and East Africa Court are assuming crucial roles in protecting human rights on the Internet by expanding the institutional protection of human rights, flagging online human rights violations, fostering digital rights norms and setting the boundaries of acceptable behaviour for states on access to the Internet. It notes, however, that much still needs to be done in terms of enforcing these judgments in the continent.