Makerere University Law School

The body of public international law that may be known as ‘African Union (AU) law’, that is to say, the treaties, resolutions, constitutive documents, jurisprudence and practices of the AU, now constitute a respectable corpus of legal material. However, not only is this body of law under-theorised and under-studied by general public international law scholars, the nature of its reception and application within the domestic legal orders of AU member states is even more neglected. This article seeks to address the dearth of scholarship in this regard by critically analysing the judicial reference to AU law in one African country – Uganda – having particular regard to the reception of human rights related AU law.

This chapter examines the approach that courts in Uganda have taken with regard to the application on international law. Judges have on many occasions not been comfortable engaging with questions of international law that have arisen in domestic cases. In these instances, they have chosen to substantially avoid engaging with the international law aspects of the disputes by deciding the cases on municipal law grounds where possible. However, sometimes the failure to invoke applicable international legal norms has been a deliberate strategy on the part of advocates who might either have felt that arguments based on international law may not be availing, or were themselves not adequately conversant with the relevant norms. At other times, courts have used international law as an aid to interpretation of domestic law, particularly in the context of constitutional litigation. The courts’ use of international law constitutes a recognition that the Constitution of Uganda (1995), and the Bill of Rights in particular, was inspired by and based upon the international human rights law regime. Judges have therefore felt comfortable having regard to the jurisprudence of international and regional human rights tribunals to shed light on the scope of constitutional provisions that mirror those in various conventions on human rights.

The phenomenon of soft law has generated significant debate, and controversy, in international legal scholarship. Nevertheless, soft law instruments remain an increasingly important feature of norm generation in international society. This chapter suggests that the resilience of soft international law can only be properly understood by having regard to another contemporary idea in international law – the concept of legitimacy. To this end, the chapter proposes a general theory for understanding the interaction between soft law and legitimacy in international law. This theory is then applied as a lens for analysing the nature, role and impact of soft law in the African Union system, using the Pretoria Principles on Ending Mass Atrocities Pursuant to Article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union as a case study. The chapter demonstrates that soft law can be a powerful tool in the hands of non-traditional actors in international law, one which should be applied conscientiously and deliberately to democratise and humanise international law, rather than to entrench its more hegemonic aspects.

T h i se s s a ya d d r e s s e st h eo v e r r i d i n ge f f e c tt h a tp o l i t i c sa n dp r a g ma t i s mh a v eo v e re s t a b l i s h e dp r i n c i p l e sa n d d o c t r i n e so fs t a t e h o o dr e c o g n i t i o ni ni n t e r n a t i o n a l l a w. T h ee s s a ya d o p t st w ot h e ma t i ca r e a s , f i r s ti st h e n o t i o no fr e c o g n i t i o na n ds e l fd e t e r mi n a t i o nf o l l o w e db ys t a t ee x e r c i s eo fs o v e r e i g n t ya n dj u r i s d i c t i o n. . T h r o u g hac a r e f u l a p p r a i s a l o ft h e i rj u r i d i c a l f o u n d a t i o n s , i ti n e l u c t a b l yl e a d s t oac o n c l u s i o nt h a tt h ee x e r c i s e o ft h et w on o t i o n s c a no n l yb eu n d e r s t o o da g a i n s t t h ep r e v a i l i n gi n t e r n a t i o n a l p o l i t i c a l q u e s t i o n s a n dc o n t e x t .

Assessment of Damages is a very wide area of the law. It is very 'technical' and covers an important area of civil litigation where there is an alleged civil wrong or an infraction of the law. It permeates almost all civil claims arising from tort and contract. When a claim for damages is included in an action, the plaintiff or claimant is required under the law to provide evidence in support of the claim and to give facts upon which the damages could be assessed. Simply put, before assessment of damages could be made, the plaintiff or claimant must first furnish evidence to warrant the award of damages. He must also provide facts that would form the basis of assessment of the damages he would be entitled to. His failure to do so would be fatal to his claim for damages. That is why in all actions where damages is one of the reliefs claimed, the plaintiff or claimant is always called upon to give evidence in support of the claim for damages after interlocutory judgment is entered in his favour upon the failure of the defendant to either enter appearance or to defend the action. But before I stray into the technical area of 'assessment of damages', which is our subject for this period, it is important that we know and appreciate what the word 'Damages' in law means. When the word is used in its singular context; i.e. 'damage', what it simply connotes is either: (i) Harm or injury, that is; physical injury that makes something less useful, less valuable or unable to function properly; e.g. (a) damage to a vehicle or any property and (ii) An adverse or harmful effect on somebody or something; e.g. (a) did damage his reputation in the community in which he lives, (b) suffered psychological damage as a result of harassment, etc. In another sense, damage is used to mean the cost or price of something. However, 'Damages', as used in law, is nothing but, a sum of money claimed as compensation or awarded by a Court as compensation to the plaintiff/claimant for harm, loss or injury suffered by the plaintiff/claimant as a result of the tortuous act or breach of contract committed by the defendant or his agent.

Most refugees & asylum seekers have had their self-esteem crushed and their hopes shattered by the inhumane and degrading acts that they encounter before, during and sometimes after flight, and the last thing they need is someone who spitefully revisits those wounds. As assessors at Refugee Law Project we interact with refugees from all walks of life on a daily basis. From our experience we have learned that, whether we are able to meet their needs or not, what really matters most for the majority of our clients is the way we treat them. No amount of material support can compare to the dignity that refugees and asylum seekers deserve to be accorded. Although, out of desperation they may accept any support or aid in whatever form it comes, such acceptance does not reflect the content in their hearts; we perhaps all know that a broken heart is worse than an injured leg or a hungry stomach. What they need is someone who treats them humanely irrespective of their race, gender, sexuality, nationality and even physical appearance! They need someone who values and respects them as no lesser human beings than he/she is. More than material assistance, they need someone who can rebuild their confidence and restore their hope in whatever way possible, however small it may be. Most importantly, we all need to know that we can be that someone if we purpose to be. If you still think that you're too small to make an impact in this regard, try sharing your bed with a mosquito. Refugees and asylum seekers are highly vulnerable people because most of the time they barely have anything left of their own to survive on. They are often left at the mercy of those to whom they have fled. Unfortunately some of them end up being exploited. This is especially so for young men, boys, women and girls who end up engaging in " transactional sex " or sex in exchange for money or food and other degrading activities to save their families from starvation in scenarios where host families, host countries and refugee agencies are unable to fully meet their needs. However, some of the women we have interacted with, later regret having had to engage in these acts saying that they felt used. They feel that they were robbed not only of their dignity but also, in some cases, their virginity. It is at this point that some give up on their much cherished dream of getting married and having families of their own because they feel unworthy. By the skin of their teeth, some of these young women are lucky to survive the HIV infection but not lucky enough to evade pregnancy. They're forced to become single mothers at a tender age. And this has its own much bigger health and economic implications. These young men and women become severely depressed and traumatized. Some confess to being suicidal and or homicidal every time they remember their past experiences of violence. The women say that their babies are a constant reminder of their " consensual sex abusers " who often disappear into thin air, leaving these poor souls in an abyss of mental and livelihood challenges. Men and boys on the other hand often lose their sexual well-being as a result of sexual victimization and can hardly fulfill their conjugal obligations in their subsequent relations ships. This can also lead to vicious cycle of broken homes and broken lives. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon once remarked that sexual violence (exploitation) in war is as destructive as any bomb or bullet. I couldn't agree more.