Strathmore Law Journal
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Chronicles of the Doha Wars: The Battle of Nairobi – Appraisal of the Tenth WTO Ministerial
Get PDFWhen Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, opened the first ever World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held on African soil, he knew that the Doha Development Agenda (DDA)1 ceremoniously agreed upon in 2001, and of which his country had been an ardent promoter, would be put under the guillotine. So much was made abundantly clear by Michael Froman, the United States of America Trade Representative (USTR), in an op-ed published in the Financial Times just two days prior to the Conference. Froman argued that "Doha was designed in a different era, for a different era, and much has changed since", and that "it is time for the world to free itself of the strictures of Doha’, before concluding presciently that ‘Nairobi will mark the end of an era".
The Conference of 2015 closed with a Ministerial Declaration and the ‘Nairobi Package’ comprising a series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least developed countries (LDCs). WTO’s Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, concluded with optimism that, similar to two years ago in Bali, the WTO had once again delivered ‘major, multilaterally-negotiated outcomes’ at Nairobi. All these things will be analyzed in the following lines.
Implementation of Political Participation Standards for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Kenya
Get PDFThis paper reviews international standards on political participation by persons with intellectual disabilities and how they are implemented in Kenya. On one hand, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) allows limitation of rights based on ‘reasonable and objective’ criteria. Whereas it is considered unreasonable to restrict participation rights of persons with physical disabilities, General Comment 25 to the ICCPR permits restrictions based on ‘established mental incapacity’. On the other hand, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) does not foresee any limitation of participation rights; rather it recognises the freedom of persons with disabilities to be involved in decision-making, including the right to vote and hold public office. Kenya is a party to both instruments, having acceded to the ICCPR in 1972 and ratified the CRPD in 2008.
Kenya’s law does not deprive persons with intellectual disabilities of legal capacity. In fact, Article 54(2) of the Constitution of Kenya (2010 Constitution)seeks to increase participation of persons with disabilities in decision making and public life by providing, inter alia, for the progressive inclusion of persons with disabilities in at least five percent of all elective and nominated positions. Whereas Kenya’s law allows for limited guardianship, it is the informal guardianship created by the family, on whom persons with intellectual disabilities are dependent for support, which poses the greatest barrier to the exercise of participation rights. This informal guardianship, combined with negative societal attitudes and ignorance at all levels including the Judiciary, the electoral management body (the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)) and even the wider disability movement, makes political participation rights for persons with intellectual disabilities illusory. If the situation of persons with intellectual disabilities is not addressed, only persons with physical and sensory disabilities will be able to take up the affirmative action measure created by Article 54(2) of the 2010 Constitution
A Critique of the International Legal Regime Applicable to Terrorism
Get PDFTerrorism is a global phenomenon that permeates state borders and predominantly causes immeasurable suffering to civilians. The need for international cooperation and concerted efforts in combating terrorism cannot be gainsaid. Already, sectoral instruments have been passed to regulate certain aspects of terrorism. However, without a single terrorism specific instrument, acts of terrorism generally classified will fall under spheres of international law which include; public international law, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, human rights and refugee law. This paper makes a critical analysis of these spheres of international law and how they apply to states’ counter-terrorism efforts
Selected Recent Institutional and Rule-Making Developments in the Law of the Sea (2015-2016)
Get PDFThe United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC or the Convention) is quite simply, the greatest treaty-making achievement of the United Nations (UN) era. This appraisal of the recent developments of 2015-16 in this legal regime that governs the oceans – waters, floor and subsoil thereof – which cover ‘over 70 percent of the surface of our planet’, focuses on its oft-ignored spect, that is, its institutional framework
The ‘Great Escape’: In Pursuit of President Al Bashir in South Africa
Get PDFIn 2008 the first Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (‘the Court’ or ‘ICC’) Luis Moreno Ocampo, had shifted his prosecutorial strategy with regard to the situation in Sudan by deciding to pursue the serving President of Sudan, Omar al Bashir, whereas before, his strategy had been to request the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue summons for persons deemed to be mid-level individuals in the Khartoum government. Acting on that referral, the Prosecutor initiated investigations into the situation in Darfur beginning June 2005. On 14 July 2008, the Prosecutor filed an application requesting the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue a warrant of arrest against President Bashir, which was granted on 4 March 2009. Subsequently, warrants of arrest were issued for Al Bashir on 4 March 2009 and on 12 July 2010, with the second warrant being issued to reflect the inclusion of the charge of genocide in the indictment. This article examines how this "Great Escape", on the light of the last events.
The Way Forward on Counter-Terrorism: Global Perspectives
Get PDFThere have been thousands of public conferences and closed-door meetings on terrorism and counter-terrorism since 11 September 2001. They usually end up with recommendations and then everybody goes home after the group photo has been taken. This article will deal with the following questions: what happened to all these recommendations? Who has acted upon them and actually implemented them? Who has evaluated them? Were they any good? Specifically, it will analyze five critical issues: (i) the definition problem; (ii) the communication problem; (iii) the political problem; (iv) the religious problem; (v) the radicalization problem. Finally, it will be provided twelve rules for preventing and combating terrorism
