Browsing by Subject "African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights"
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    A prolegomenon on deepfakes and human rights in the African Charter
    (Global Campus Human Rights, 2023) Jimoh, Mujib
    Deepfake, the manipulation of videos, audio and images using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, is popularly gaining attention in different areas of law since its first creation in 2017. Recent scholarships have considered its impacts on evidence law and proofs in courtrooms. Other areas of law that have been tested with deepfake include criminal law, torts, intellectual property and national security law, among others. In Africa, one of the challenges in addressing issues relating to deepfake is illiteracy. Most Africans are said to be ignorant of what deepfake is. Yet, with its nature and as a form of AI, deepfake impacts almost all known human rights since human rights are interdependent and interrelated. This paper seeks to introduce and underscore the impacts of deepfake on human rights in Africa, particularly the rights contained in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter). Although an analysis of the impact of deepfake on all the rights contained in the African Charter is outside the scope of this paper, the most impacted human rights—the right to dignity, privacy and information—will be discussed. As a prolegomenon (introduction) on this topic, the paper aims to highlight the human rights violations in the creation of deepfakes in Africa. The paper argues that while most deepfakes are created by private individuals, under the ‘duty to respect’ framework of human rights, both individuals and State Parties have obligations to respect human rights.
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    Diffusing Tension, Building Trust: Proposals on Guiding Principles Applicable during Consideration of the Activity Reports of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
    (Global Campus, 2018) Biegon, Japhet
    As the most active regional human rights supervisory mechanism in Africa, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has increasingly become the target of political backlash. The African Union (AU) Executive Council and the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) have on a number of occasions reacted angrily to decisions taken by the ACHPR in the discharge of its mandate. In the process, they have overstepped their role to consider the activity reports of the ACHPR. In particular, they have purported to alter substantive decisions of the ACHPR or direct how it should perform its independent and autonomous functions. This policy brief seeks to clarify the limits and boundaries of the involvement of AU political organs in mandate-related functions of the ACHPR. It proposes a set of five guiding principles that should be applied by the Executive Council and the PRC during their consideration of the activity reports of the ACHPR. In particular, it proposes that: (a) consideration of activity reports should not erode or undermine the role of the ACHPR as an independent and autonomous interpreter of the African Charter; (b) the competence to consider activity reports should be understood in light of the overriding object and purpose of the African Charter; (c) consideration of activity reports should take into account the fact that the African Charter contains safeguards for ensuring ACHPR’s internal independence; (d) the process of considering activity reports should not serve as a platform for member states to lodge appeals against decisions of the ACHPR; and (e) consideration of activity reports should foster the principles of separation of powers and rule of law within the AU.
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    October 21st, the African conception of human rights
    ( 2008) Gomez Sanchez, Davinia ; Sosoe, Lukas ; Lehners, Jean-Paul