Abstract
LL.M. (International Law)
At any given time, there are about 10 million people held in prisons around the world, with about 668,000 of these incarcerated in sub-Saharan Africa and about one million in the continent in total. On the continent, female prisoners – an estimated five per cent of the population – are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations due to their historical inequalities, socio-economic vulnerabilities and a gender- slanted criminal justice system.
The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights guarantees the rights of detainees through the interpretation of several articles. The vulnerabilities of women detainees highlight the need to prioritise the rights of women in a system that is wholly unequal, fostering the rights to non-discrimination and promoting equality before the law,6 as recognised by the charter.
Besides numerous international instruments, several resolutions and declarations have been adopted on the continent regarding the general rights of detainees through the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. These instruments aim to prohibit cruel treatment and torture,make provision for fair access and treatment under the judicial system, create a standard for reasonable prison conditions, accelerate penal reform and through the Special Rapporteur on Prisons (SRP), monitor the promotion and protection of the rights of detainees...