News

Today, World Homeless Day, marks the official launch of a civil society campaign to decriminalise poverty-related by-laws in South Africa.

Prof Benyam Dawit Mezmur, head of the Children's Rights Project was part of a panel discussion looking at 30 years after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The New Times reports that The Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye, told the newspaper in a telephone interview that this step finally means that Rwandans can now be fully governed by the laws that they have made themselves. The said laws were enacted between 1885 and 1962, when Rwanda obtained independence from Belgium.

The New Times reports that The Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye, told the newspaper in a telephone interview that this step finally means that Rwandans can now be fully governed by the laws that they have made themselves. The said laws were enacted between 1885 and 1962, when Rwanda obtained independence from Belgium.

The Socioeconomic Rights Project and its partners participated in the UN Summit on Sustainable Development that took place in New York from 22-25 September in New York. This Summit was a gathering of Heads of State to deliberate on and assess the commitments made under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the Summit, SERP participated in some side events organised by civil society groups.

Dr Robert Nanima presented a paper on 'The Situation of Children affected by armed conflict in Africa: A review of progress made from the Graca Machel Report 1996 to date' at the Knowledge Exchange organised by Save the Children in Uganda.

On 23 September 2019, Prof Benyam Mezmur, head of the Children's Rights Project, was part of the panel at a side event of the 24th Human Rights Council Session in Geneva. The event was to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and it was organised by the African Union Ambassadors to Geneva.

The vertical organisation of the state remains a thorn in a flesh in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. Various forms of multilevel systems of government have been established throughout the continent, from federalism in Ethiopia (1996), Nigeria (1999) and South Sudan (2011); devolution in Kenya (2010) and South Africa (1996); to decentralised unitary systems in Uganda (1995) and Namibia (1990). These systems, which are often entrenched in the respective constitutions of these countries, have been adopted to advance the realisation of certain objectives linked to development, democracy and peace. National integration and the deepening of democracy in South Africa and many other countries is to a certain extent attributed to decentralised governance. However, some of these systems are not working well, especially on the development front, despite having been in place for some time. Others are yet to function effectively as they have not gained the much needed traction.