African Disability Rights Yearbook 2020
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African Disability African Rights Yearbook The African Disability Rights Yearbook aims to advance disability 2020 scholarship. Coming in the wake of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is the first peer-reviewed journal to focus exclusively on disability as human Disability Rights rights on the African continent. It provides an annual forum for scholarly analysis on issues pertaining to the human rights of persons with disabilities. It is also a source for country-based reports as well as commentaries on recent developments in the field of disability rights in the African region. u v w x Braille Yearbook 2020 ISSN: 2311-8970 Pretoria University Law Press PULP www.pulp.up.ac.za PULP Editors Luke Clements Charles Ngwena Professor, School of Law, Leeds University, United Kingdom Convening Editor, Professor of Law, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Therese Degener University of Pretoria Professor, University of Applied Sciences, Heléne Combrinck Bochum, Germany Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, North- Anna Lawson West University (Potchefstroom) Professor, School of Law, Leeds University, Serges Djoyou Kamga United Kingdom Associate Professor, Thabo Mbeki African Janet Lord Leadership Institute, University of South Senior Researcher, Harvard Law School Africa Project on Disability, Harvard University Nkatha Murungi Christopher Mbazira Assistant Director, Centre for Human Professor, Faculty of Law, Makerere Rights, Faculty of Law, University of University, Uganda Pretoria Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo Assistant editors World Bank (serving on the Advisory Enoch Chilemba Board of the African Disability Rights Head of Department, Faculty of Law, Yearbook in her personal capacity) Chancellor College, University of Malawi Bonita Meyersfeld Elizabeth Kamundia Professor, Director, Centre for Applied Assistant Director, Research, Advocacy Legal Studies, School of Law, University of and Outreach Directorate, Kenya the Witwatersrand, South Africa National Commission on Human Rights Lawrence Mute Dianah Msipa Lecturer, School of Law, University of Programme Officer, Centre for Human Nairobi; Member of the African Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Commission on Human and Peoples’ Pretoria Rights, the African Commission Working Group on Older Persons and Persons with Innocentia Mgijima-Konopi Disabilities, and Chair of the African Programme Manager, Disability Rights Commission’s Committee for the Unit, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Prevention of Torture in Africa Law, University of Pretoria Michael Ashley Stein Louis Oyaro Executive Director, Harvard Law School Consultant, Max Planck Foundation for Project on Disability, Harvard University; International Peace and the Rule of Law Professor, William & Mary Law School, Assisted by United States Kate Painting Gerard Quinn Professor, Centre for Disability Law and Attorney and legal researcher Policy, National University of Ireland, International advisory board Ireland Tsitsi Chataika Monica Mbaru Senior Lecturer, Department of Justice of the Labour Court, Kenya Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of Zimbabwe THIS YEARBOOK SHOULD BE CITED AS (2020) 8 ADRY The African Disability Rights Yearbook publishes peer-reviewed contributions dealing with the rights of persons with disabilities and related topics, with specific relevance to Africa, Africans and scholars of Africa. The Yearbook appears annually under the aegis of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. The Yearbook is an open access online publication, see www.adry.up.ac.za For subscriptions to receive printed copies and for guidelines to contributors, also see www.adry.up.ac.za African Disability Rights Yearbook Volume 8 2020 2020 African Disability Rights Yearbook (2020) 8 Published by: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law in Africa. PULP also publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books from African countries other than South Africa. This book was peer reviewed prior to publication. For more information on PULP, see www.pulp.up.ac.za Printed and bound by: Pinetown Printers, Durban, South Africa To order, contact: PULP Faculty of Law University of Pretoria South Africa 0002 Tel: +27 12 420 4948 [email protected] www.pulp.up.ac.za Cover: Yolanda Booyzen, Centre for Human Rights ISSN: 2311-8970 EISSN: 2413-7138 Open access online: http://www.adry.up.ac.za © 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL v SECTION A: ARTICLES Hush Women! The complex disabled woman in Nigeria’s 1 legal and human rights framework 3 Adetokunbo Johnson Sexual and reproductive health barriers for youth with 2 disabilities in Zimbabwe 31 Tafadzwa Rugoho, Pamela Wright, Michael Stein and Jacqueline Broerse The role of national human rights institutions in 3 advancing Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the Right to Live Independently and be Included in the Community 52 Elizabeth Kamundia and Faizah Sidi Interrogating parental participation in the education 4 and general development of their deaf children in Zambia 71 Kenneth Muzata The link between the right to live independently and 5 to be included in the community for persons with psychosocial disability, and the right to work and employment: A critical analysis of Kenyan law 101 Shirley Genga Access to justice for persons with disabilities in Malawi: 6 Exploring some challenges and possibilities in the criminal justice system 124 Mwiza Jo Nkhata SECTION B: COUNTRY REPORTS Niger 153 Gerard Emmanuel Kamdem Kamga Liberia 178 Azubike C Onuora-Oguna Central African Republic 197 Serge Marcellin Tengho Togo 216 Soka Armelle Ngoutane Peyou iii SECTION C: REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS Disability, Cyclone Idai and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preparedness of African countries for disability-inclusive responses in emergency situations 243 Edmore Masendeke Health emergencies post COVID-19: What guidance can Africa’s Disability Protocol provide? 253 Innocentia Mgijima-Konopi & Mary Auma BOOK REVIEW Oche Onazi: An African path to disability justice: Community, relationships and obligations (2020) 264 Dianah Msipa iv EDITORIAL The editors of the African Disability Rights Yearbook (ADRY) are pleased to announce the publication of the eighth volume of the ADRY. Section A of this volume features six articles by; Adetokunbo Johnson on the complex disabled woman in Nigeria’s legal and human rights framework; Tafadzwa Rugoho, Pamela Wright, Michael Stein and Jacqueline Broerse on sexual and reproductive health barriers for youth with disabilities in Zimbabwe; Elizabeth Kamundia and Faizah Sidi on the role of national human rights institutions in advancing the right to live independently and be included in the community; Kenneth Muzata on parental participation in the education and general development of children with deafness; Shirley Genga on the link between the right to live independently and to be included in the community for persons with psychosocial disability, and the right to work and employment; and Mwiza Jo Nkhata on access to justice for persons with disabilities in Malawi. Section B contains four country reports by: Gerard Emmanuel Kamdem Kamga on Niger; Azubike Onuora-Oguna on Liberia; Serge Marcellin Tengho on the Central African Republic; and Soka Armelle Ngoutane Peyou on Togo. Section C on regional developments contains two commentaries by: Edmore Masendeke on disability, Cyclone Idai and the COVID-19 Pandemic as they apply to the preparedness of African Countries; and the other by Innocentia Mgijima-Konopi and Mary Auma on health emergencies post COVID-19.What guidance can the African Disability Protocol provide? The 2020 volume ends with a book review of An African path to disability justice: Community, relationships and obligations (2020) authored by Oche Onazi. The book is reviewed by Dianah Msipa Editors Charles Ngwena (convening editor) Heléne Combrinck Serges Djoyou Kamga Nkatha Murungi v SECTION A: ARTICLES HUSH WOMAN! THE COMPLEX ‘DISABLED’ WOMAN IN NIGERIA’S LEGAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK: A DECONSTRUCTION HAPTER C 1 Adetokunbo Johnson* Summary Few studies have paid enough attention to the relationship that exists between law and the oppression that women in Nigeria face, mainly when this oppression manifests as sexism and disability discrimination simultaneously. The interest has mostly been on the oppression that manifests as sexism and disability discrimination as separate issues. Yet, reality shows that many women in Nigeria have sustained injuries as a result of sexist oppression and have become disabled. This situation is testament to the interactions and intersections that exist between identity categories of sex/gender and disability as well as resultant oppression of sexism and disability discrimination. However, these interactions are rarely acknowledged. Against this backdrop, the objective of this article is to ask the question: Who is a disabled woman in Nigeria? By asking the question, the intention is to expose the Nigerian legal framework's definition of the disabled woman as 'born and essentialist'. Yet, unlike the essentialist approach that law and human rights adopt, I demonstrate, how the identity categories of womanhood and disability that a disabled woman embodies are unstable and fluid. Unfortunately,