Rights Of Women In Africa Research Articles

Barriers to fulfilling reporting obligations in Africa under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

SUMMARY The state reporting process is one of the important means through which human rights compliance is monitored. Pursuant to article 62 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and article 26(1) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, state parties are required to provide a detailed report on the human rights situation in their respective countries to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. The state report should be submitted every two years, and should outline the steps, the progress made, and challenges encountered in realising the rights provided for in the African Women's Protocol. Unfortunately, only a handful ofstates have fulfilled this reporting obligation. Consequently, this article identifies and investigates barriers to fulfilling reporting obligations under the African Women's Protocol. Specifically, it interrogates why some African governments have failed to fulfil their reporting obligations after showing significant commitment by their ratification of this instrument. It is acknowledged that while there might be a myriad of barriers that could be advanced, the article identifies specific barriers to non-reporting on the African Women's Protocol. It concludes with some form of optimism, arguing that the difficulties to fulfilling the reporting obligations on the African Women's Protocol notwithstanding, African governments should be held accountable and made to see the value that could be derived from reporting on human rights compliance. The African Commission's need to take up proactive steps to facilitate increased seriousness to the reporting process itself, which would then encourage and compel state parties to begin to take their reporting obligations seriously and fulfil the obligations therein, is underscored. Finally, to overcome these barriers, recommendations are proffered to critical stakeholders such as the African Commission, African governments and civil society organisations. Key words: African Charter; African Women's Protocol; women's rights; state reporting; African Commission

Are Africans States Willing to Ratify and Commit to Human Rights Treaties? The Example of the Maputo Protocol

This paper sheds light on factors affecting the ratification and commitment of African countries to treaties, to change and to improve their conduct according to the obligations present in those treaties. As a way of example, this work uses the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (“Maputo Protocol”), considered as the pillar of women’s human rights protection in Africa. This paper considers the effect of the breaches on the sovereign rights of African states to determine the content of their domestic law and if they have made any progress in the protection of women’s rights on the continent. I wonder that because there is significant concern as to how the Maputo Protocol can be implemented given that, for example, several rights in the Protocol clash with established cultural and national traditions. That is why many of the provisions contained in the Maputo Protocol are not currently achievable given also the present socio-economic conditions in many countries of the continent. In addition, the Maputo Protocol fails to recognise several rights, deemed particularly relevant for refugees in Africa, such as the right to a fair trial and the rights of convicted and detained women. When human rights norms are emerging, as it is the case with those contained in the Maputo Protocol, strong international legal commitment generates greater public support for compliance compared to weak commitment. Conversely, when a human rights norm is domesticated, stronger state commitment does not always generate greater public support compared to a weaker commitment. That is why the effort to promote the Maputo Protocol should be dine at a continental level and not leaving it to a single country or to a small group of them.

Women’s right to health – modern challenges: international legal aspect

The article contains a detailed analysis of international legal acts regulating women's right to health; the focus is on problematic aspects that need to be addressed, including: violence, HIV / AIDS, protection during a pandemic of COVID-19. The article highlights the provisions of the following universal and regional acts of a general nature: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993), Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (2011), Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003). The article also covers proceedings of international intergovernmental forums, strategic documents, reports of the UN Secretary-General focusing on the general protection of women's rights and, in particular, the right to health, including the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action (1993), the Beijing Declaration (1995), Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health (2010), Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescent's Health (2016-2030), Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (2020), Report of the Secretary-General UN "Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19" (2020) etc. The emphasis is placed on the importance of general and special recommendations developed by international treaty monitoring bodies - the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the field of women's health, which oblige states to comply with, protect and enforce rights in this area. In order to improve the situation in the field of protection of women's rights, the appropriate conclusions and recommendations on the im-plementation of the provisions of these acts into national state legislation have been made.

Twenty Years of Triumph, Trial and Tribulation: Reflections on the Mechanism of the African Commission’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa

Abstract On the occasion of its 25th Ordinary Session held in Bujumbura, Burundi, from 26 April to 5 May 1999, the African Commission adopted resolution ACHPR/res.38 (XXV) 99 on the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa (SRRWA), retrospectively with the appointment taking effect from 31 October 1998. This means that the mechanism of the SRRWA is roughly making twenty years since its initial inception. Coming of age and time, the twenty years of existence of the mechanism of the SRRWA makes it not only one of the oldest (and perhaps most successful) mechanisms of the African Commission; but one that has been the subject of tremendous triumph, trial and tribulation. Over the past two decades, the mechanism has been a product of both progression and regression. By and large the mechanism of the SRRWA has played an appreciable role in the advancement of women’s rights on the African continent. This article aims at taking stock of the achievements and failures of the 20 years of the work of the SRRWA. Although taking pride in the achievements of the mechanism, this article argues for incremental reforms within the mechanism, including the refining of the terms of reference of the mandate; the need for closer cooperation with global and regional systems mechanisms, women at grassroots including women’s rights movements, and mutual support from civil society organisations.

Rethinking women and customary inheritance in Nigeria

This article reviews women’s quest to access land, property, and housing by inheritance and succession from their deceased father’s or husband’s estate and judicial responses thereto. It submits that tradition or custom-based gender differentiations are discriminatory against women on grounds of sex and are, as such unconstitutional. The problem has been the absence of a legal and policy framework empowering women and granting them explicit right to land in their capacity as citizens with full legal capacity as envisaged by both the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW: 1979); and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol, 2003). The article also analyses the high illiteracy level that has made most women ignorant of the existing legislations and courts judgments which have recognised their rights to inheritance of real properties in Nigeria. The article finds that Nigeria through judicial activism is currently empowering women to access and inherit land, though more efforts are still needed to total liberate and enforce the rights of women to customarily inherit property.

Multi-Country Analysis of Child Marriage Laws and Policy Instruments in Africa

This paper is informed by the findings and recommendations of the UN Women East and Southern Africa led Multi-Country Analytical Study of Legislation, Policies, Interventions and Cultural Practices on Child Marriage in Africa which undertaken in 2018. The study focused on Africa as a continent but synchronised into 10 study countries (Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC and Morocco). It is undoubtable that child marriage is not only a regional challenge but also a global nightmare that every treaty, convention, protocol or agreement condemn. Succinctly, the Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and the International Conference on Population and Development of 1994 are among the leading policy instruments that advance the human rights of children and thus are critical for ending child marriage. In this analysis, the paper underscores the critical role that such legal and policy frameworks perform in transforming toxic norms across the continent and beyond to deliver the human rights of women and girls with a particular focus on country legal frameworks and policies. In a snapshot, the paper focuses on relevant laws and regulations reported in the study including those that set the minimum age for marriage at 18 years for both/either girls and boys; requirements for birth and marriage registration; sexual violence and domestic violence laws; anti-corruption laws; and family status laws regulating marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance. Keywords: Child marriage, Child bride, age of marriage, prevalence, CEDAW, survivors, Bejing Platform for Action, UN Women, policy instruments, women and girls, constitution, customary laws, children, laws, religion, society, family code, criminal code, penal code, legal system, Africa, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC and Morocco. DOI : 10.7176/JCSD/51-07 Publication date :September 30 th 2019

Critical Analysis of State of Women’s Rights in Nigeria

Notwithstanding the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and several International and Regional treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Protocol to the Africa Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; discrimination and violations of women's rights still occupying in Nigeria. Women are discriminated against in the area of politics, decision-making and other spheres; Nigeria is still one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world; violence against women exist both in the private and public lives and there are still discriminatory laws that violate the rights of women in our law books. This paper examines the current realities of women's rights in Nigeria under seven headings i.e. Gender Based Violence, Women's Access to land, Access to Justice and Equal Protection Under the Law, Health and Reproductive Rights, Right to Participation in Political and Decision-Making Processes, Right to Inheritance and Marriage, Separation, Divorce and Women's Property Rights. Also, the positive actions that have been taken to address these issues such as the passage of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act and the development of the Standards and Guidelines for the medical management of victims of violence in Nigeria will be discussed. Finally, actions that are required towards the realization of women's rights will also be appraised. Keywords : women’s rights, Nigeria, discrimination DOI : 10.7176/JAAS/53-07

Association Pour le Progrès et la Défense Des Droits Des Femmes Maliennes (APDF) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) v. Republic of Mali (Afr. Ct. H.P.R.)

On May 11, 2018, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Court) delivered a judgment against Mali concerning its Persons and Family Code (Family Code). This case is groundbreaking because it is the first time that the African Court has found violations of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children's Charter).

Child, early, and forced marriages (CEFM) in the Commonwealth: the role of the judiciary

Forced marriage, especially that involving children, is one of the greatest challenges facing individuals around the world and is integral to the full realization of universal human rights, women’s rights, and the rights of the child. This paper examines the effects of child, early and forced marriages (CEFM) within the Commonwealth, with a specific focus on East Africa, and highlights how to best address the issue using international, regional, and national legal norms and judicial processes currently in place. The East African countries examined are Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. The paper begins with a general introduction of why combating CEFM is an important topic for consideration by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the efforts being made to address it. The introduction is then followed by the background section which gives a historical overview of CEFM at the global level. The paper defines ‘CEFM’, which is crucial since the definitions often vary depending on how CEFM is worded in respective jurisdictions, followed by CEFM’s manifestation within East Africa. Discussing the history of CEFM often helps one understand the hidden challenges that hinder effective implementation of efforts to counter it. The discussion on hidden challenges illustrates how culture and customs play an important role in the prevalence and acceptance of CEFM, as well its damaging effects on education and health. The rest of the paper examines the legal frameworks in place to address CEFM within the four jurisdictions. This includes examination of international instruments such as the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage to regional instruments such as the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in an attempt to analyze the legal obligations that arise from these conventions. Considering that the main target audience of this paper are those within the judiciary (most specifically East Africa), it is important also to take a closer look at the national legal frameworks in place, comprising of national constitutions and statutory laws. The paper then concludes with a section on recommendations and finally and most importantly relevant case law in Appendix 1.

Gender Budgeting as a Means to Implement the Maputo Protocol’s Obligations to Provide Budgetary Resources to Realise Women’s Human Rights in Africa

Articles 4(2)(i), 10(3) and 26(2) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) impose an obligation on states to provide sufficient budgetary resources to realise women’s human rights. Despite the fact that several African countries have ratified the Maputo Protocol, there is still insufficient budgetary allocation to realise women’s human rights. This article presents gender budgeting as a step that African states can take towards the provision of sufficient resources to realise women’s human rights. It studies the concept of gender budgeting and its objectives to demonstrate the link between gender budgeting and the provision of budgetary resources to realise women’s human rights. It also studies the challenges that states face in the adoption of gender budgeting and concludes that despite the fact that there are challenges, they can be overcome if states show the required will to do so.

Filling the Gaps Between Colonial Legal Heritage and Prevailing Local Customs in Family Relations: the Place of Secret Trust

∗ LLB, LLM, PhD, BL; Senior Lecturer, Department of Private and Property Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. 1 D. Hayton, ‘Developing the Law of Trusts for the Twenty-first Century’ [1990] L.Q.R. 106. Patriarchy is a socio-historical phenomenon of men as a dominant factor in societal power relations. Men in this sense have been found to have the crucial features of being authoritarian, unemotional and distant. These attributes are taken into their functions in the larger society where they are central to political, moral, filial, property authority and ultimately, a claim to superiority. J. Wall ‘Fatherhood, Childism, and the Creation of Society’ 75 (1) Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2007) 52−76; P. Horn ‘Where Is Feminism Now?’ 26 Agenda, Women in Local Government (1995) 26, 71–4; see also M. Humm The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, Prentice Hall, Harvester, Wheatsheaf (1995); M. Htun and S. Weldon ‘State Power, Religion, and Women’s Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Family Law’ 18 (1) Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies (2011) 145–65; A. Titkow ‘Do Men Have Their Own Glass Ceiling’ 172 Polish Sociological Review (2010) 391. It is noteworthy though, that Tikow’s study found (at least with respect to Poland) that women were their own problem in that men were more likely than women to shift position given certain indices. For some responses to the phenomenon of patriarchy, see for Nigeria, ‘The First National Implementation Plan for NV20: 2020 (2010– 2013)’ (Economic Transformation Blue Print, 1st October Publishing, available at www.1stoctober.com) 10; see further Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, entry into force 2 January 1976; Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women, adopted by General Assembly resolution 34/180, entered into force 3 September 1981; Can T.S. 1982 No. 31 ratified by Nigeria 1985. Nigeria further signed the optional protocol in 2000 and ratified it in 2004. However, section 12 of the Nigerian Constitution requires further action for these treaties and covenants to become law in Nigeria, which has not been undertaken. Other relevant responses are: Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993 – see, in particular, the preamble; Article 18(3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights ratified by Nigeria as Cap A9 No.2 Laws of the Federation 2004 and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

Enhancing the role of health professionals in the advancement of adolescent sexual health and rights in Africa.

To realize adolescents' right to sexual health, state parties' implementation of the obligations stipulated under Article 14 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa should reflect the key principles of the rights of the child, articulated under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Welfare and Rights of the Child. However, societal norms that stigmatize adolescent sexual conduct constitute barriers to adolescents' sexual health care, including their access to contraceptives to avoid unwanted pregnancies and protect themselves from STIs and HIV. States should sensitize and train health professionals to provide sexual health services and care in accordance with the principles of the rights of the child, and create enabling laws and policies to facilitate their work with adolescents.

The General Comments on HIV adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as a tool to advance the sexual and reproductive rights of women in Africa

The present article examines the contents and importance of the General Comments adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on Article 14 (1) (d) and (e) of the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa as a tool for advancing women’s rights in the context of HIV. Given that discriminatory practices in all facets of life have continued to limit African women’s enjoyment of their sexual and reproductive rights and render them susceptible to HIV infection, it becomes vital that African governments adopt appropriate measures to address this challenge. The provisions of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa present great opportunities for this to be realized. The radical and progressive provisions of the Protocol will be of no use to women unless policymakers and other stakeholders have a clear understanding of them and are able to implement them effectively. The adoption of the General Comments is a welcome development, and states and civil society groups must maximize it to advance women’s rights.

The approaches of the African Commission to the right to health under the African Charter

In 2012 the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights celebrated its 25 years of existence. The Commission was established pursuant to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, which came into force in 1986. Since its establishment the Commission has played significant roles in the advancement of human rights in the region. While it can be argued that the formative stage of the Commission was characterised by administrative inefficiency and lacklustre performance, the Commission would seem to have improved at the latter stage of its existence. Indeed, the Commission has handed down a number of important and landmark decisions relating to the socio-economic rights guaranteed in the Charter. The African Charter remains one of the few regional human rights instruments that guarantee both civil and political rights and socio-economic rights as enforceable rights. In addition, the African Charter remarkably contains provisions safeguarding people's rights, which is a rare feat when compared with other regional human rights instruments. The coming into force on 25 November 2005 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (African Women's Protocol) marks a momentous occasion in the annals of the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. The African Women's Protocol contains a number of radical and progressive provisions relating to the rights of women, thereby providing an opportunity for the African Commission to redress human rights violations experienced by women.

Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development: Justice and Legal Fiction in Africa

Human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) to development have led to the expansion of laws protecting women's rights. Nevertheless, most women still do not have access to justice. This article explores family law reform in Africa and argues that establishing “African ownership” of law contributes to the effectiveness and legitimacy of such laws. It argues for a mixed strategy that combines local and international tools to lead to more effective protection of women's rights. Regional alliances that led to the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter for Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa served to legitimize this Protocol over other international treaties. It also examines how paralegals are a bridge between local and international norms and, as such, they are an important mechanism for more effective HRBAs to development.

State obligations to implement African abortion laws: Employing human rights in a changing legal landscape

Women in the African region are overburdened with unsafe abortion. Abortion regimes that fail to translate any given abortion rights into tangible access are partly to blame. Historically, African abortion laws have been highly restrictive. However, the post-independence era has witnessed a change toward liberalizing abortion law, even if incremental for many jurisdictions. Furthermore, Article 14 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa has significantly augmented the regional trend toward liberalization by recognizing abortion as a human right in given circumstances. However, states are failing to implement abortion laws. The jurisprudence that is emerging from the European Court of Human Rights and United Nations treaty bodies is a tool that can be used to render African governments accountable for failure to implement domestic abortion laws.

The practice of polygamy under the scheme of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa: a critical appraisal

Today the assertion that polygamy is a human rights issue admits of no demur. Polygamy and other cultural practices are as legitimately subject to criticism within the context and setting of human rights as is any other structural aspect of society. There is a movement that is rapidly gaining momentum to contest the legality and legitimacy of polygamy in a human rights context. In several parts of Africa, polygamy is not only a marriage of choice but a value system that inspires and shapes family relations. As a value system, it has been in constant tension with and is resilient to imported marital ideology of monogamy. However with the discourse of rights, in particular women’s rights, inexorably coming to the fore, the practice of polygamy stands seriously challenged and its future is in grave doubt. Key words: Polygamy, human rights, Africa, international law, culture.

Human Rights Based Approaches to Development: Justice and Legal Fiction in Africa

Human rights based approaches (HRBA) to development by scholars and practitioners alike have led to the expansion of laws protecting women’s rights in Africa, particularly in the realm of family law. The paradox is that the increase in laws has not resulted in greater equality and justice for women. To be sure, the implementation of new laws will inevitably take time. There are two important consequences of HRBA in Africa: 1) a growing gap between law-in-the-books and law-in-practice and 2) a backlash, in some cases, against woman-friendly family laws. This paper explores challenges to access to justice for women in various African countries. It considers the context of legal hybridity in Africa and how this influences women’s access to rights. It examines pathways to the protection of women’s rights, including the Protocol to the African Charter for Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and programs that promote the training of paralegals as a method of increasing access to justice. The paper argues that “African” mechanisms such as the Protocol and paralegals are important elements to women achieving sustainable access to rights. Paralegals are an integral part of the justice chain. Their familiarity with community norms, as well as legal awareness, makes them crucial to bridging the gap between the law-in-the-books and law-in-practice. As legal reforms take place across Africa, paralegals, properly trained in the new laws, may offer the best opportunity for helping individuals access justice in ways that do not alienate them from their communities.

The additional protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights: indications of capacity for African municipal systems

Aniekwu Nkolika Ijeoma notes that, in July 2003, the African Union adopted a landmark treaty, the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which significantly advances human rights protections to better reflect and incorporate women’s experiences. It presents a tremendous opportunity for women’s rights advocates in Africa, being the first regional human rights treaty to explicitly articulate women’s right to abortion in specified circumstances.

Human Rights and the Unborn Child (review)

Reviewed by: Human Rights and the Unborn Child Tania Penovic (bio) Rita Joseph, Human Rights and the Unborn Child (Martinus Nijhoff, 2009), 347 pages, ISBN 9789004175600. Rita Joseph’s Human Rights and the Unborn Child promises to represent “what international law has to say about the human rights of the unborn.”1 This book postulates that abortion is prohibited under any circumstances by a range of international instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).2 Despite the silence of these instruments on the subject, Joseph argues that the consensus they represent regarding an absolute fetal right to life is so obvious that it did not need to be properly articulated. The same right is ascribed to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (African Women’s Protocol), which authorizes medical abortion.3 An entitlement to the full panoply of human rights is declared from the moment of conception or “in practical terms, from the first moment that an unborn child’s existence in a new pregnancy is acknowledged and verified.”4 Exponents of a contrary view are regaled with an arsenal of pejorative terms. Philip Alston, Paul Hunt, members of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), United Nations (UN) Secretariat, treaty bodies and a range of others are dismissed as disingenuous, conspiratorial, pretentious, exceptionally devious, perverse, ideologically zealous, ignorant, academically dishonest, extravagantly revisionist, scheming, confused, or radical feminists. Joseph’s volume looks like a scholarly text. It was purchased by my university’s law library (and presumably many others) on the basis of its title, chapter headings and reputable publisher. Its first review lauded it the emerging “standard text on the matter.”5 Yet the book is replete with editorial oversights, including inaccurate descriptions of the offices occupied by individuals (Herbert Vere Evatt is described as a former Prime Minister of Australia), misuse of legal terminology and incorrect citations of paragraph numbers from treaties and general comments. Instead [End Page 229] of citing to Article 14(2)(c) of the African Women’s Protocol, in a chapter aimed at establishing the article’s flawed drafting and impermissibility, the author incorrectly cites the article throughout the chapter as Article or Principle 16(c). The author also erroneously inserts the words “before as well as after birth” into what appears to be an extract from Article 2 of CRC. The personal pronoun “we” is employed repeatedly without acknowledgment of the persons said to hold the views expressed. Furthermore, a laxity of legal reasoning afflicts the text. Contentious proposals which were defeated or never put to the vote are cited as “affirmation” of international consensus. Historical context is seen to permeate international instruments by implication, as if by osmosis, to introduce obligations which were never agreed upon. Assumptions are elevated to the status of legal truth. A vague preambular statement in an international declaration is seen as evidence of a legal commitment in a declaration made eleven years earlier and a convention concluded years later, both of which failed to secure agreement on the issue. For readers who lack experience in the area, the text is apt to mislead as to the content and character of obligations under international law. I. An Inaugural “Right to Be Born” The legislative history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is declared to “determine without doubt” that the term “child” was “understood at the time in both the text and the context” to encompass the fetus.6 The preambular reference to “special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection before as well as after birth” in the 1959 Declaration on the Rights of the Child (DRC)7 is cited as “formal and irrefutable evidence” and “intellectually binding proof” that the UDHR recognized an absolute fetal right to life.8 The necessary connection between the two declarations is seen to be sufficiently established by the presence of some common delegates at the drafting stage, which “ensured an unbroken continuity on all such important concepts.”9 Chile’s contentious proposal to extend the right to life to “unborn children and incurables, mentally...