Legal research across African borders
Research digitised African regional and national law.
Search 10347 African Union documents and legal information from 16 African countries.
Explore the law and policy of the African Union
We digitise the law and policy of the African Governance Architecture and help Africans and the world connect with and understand the African Union agenda.
African Union Organs
- African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights
- African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
- African Union Commission
- Assembly of the African Union
- Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union
- Executive Council of the African Union
- Pan-African Parliament
- Peace and Security Council of the African Union
African Union Institutions
Regional Economic Communities
Regional Courts of Justice
Member States
The member states of the African Union are the independent countries within the African continent that collectively work towards the union's goals of promoting unity, economic development, and peace.
Explore Member StatesRecent Judgments
Swaga c United Republic of Tanzania (Requête N°014/2017) [2023] AfCHPR 38 (7 novembre 2023) 7 November 2023 Swaga v United Republic of Tanzania (Application 014/2017) [2023] AfCHPR 38 (7 November 2023) 7 November 2023 Misalaba c United Republic of Tanzania (Requête N°033/2016) [2023] AfCHPR 40 (7 novembre 2023) 7 November 2023 Soglo c Republic of Benin (Requête N°011/2021) [2023] AfCHPR 36 (7 novembre 2023) 7 November 2023 Misalaba v United Republic of Tanzania (Application 033/2016) [2023] AfCHPR 40 (7 November 2023) 7 November 2023 View more judgmentsRecent Legal Instruments
Standard of Operating Procedures for Working Groups as Special Mechanisms within the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) 8 September 2020 Revised Constitution of the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) 18 August 2018 Treaty of the Southern African Development Community 18 August 2018 Protocol on Trade in Goods 21 March 2018 Accord Portant Création de la Zone de Libre-Échange Continentale Africaine 21 March 2018 View more legal instrumentsRecent Soft Law
Décision sur les Leaders Africains Pour L’initiative Pour la Nutrition 29 October 2023 Communiqué de la 1180ème réunion du CPS tenue le 23 octobre 2023 et consacrée à la situation en République du Niger 20 October 2023 Communique of the 1180th meeting of the PSC, held on 23 October 2023, dedicated to the situation in the Republic of Gabon 20 October 2023 Communique of the 1180th meeting of the PSC held on 23 October 2023 dedicated to the situations in the Republic of Niger 20 October 2023 Communiqué de la 1180ème réunion du CPS, tenue le 23 octobre 2023 et consacrée à la situation en République gabonaise 20 October 2023 View more Soft LawRecent Reports and Guides
The people demand a working social contract: Responding to unconstitutional change of governments in Africa 12 October 2023 Joint Communique : Seventeenth (17th) Annual Joint Consultative Meeting between the African Union Peace and Security Council and the Members of The United Nations Security Council, Addis Ababa, 6 October 2023 6 October 2023 The pursuit for legal claims on Reparations for Slavery and colonialism in Africa under international human rights law 16 September 2023 The pursuit for legal claims on Reparations for Slavery and colonialism in Africa under international human rights law 15 September 2023 Press Release ACERWC-ACHPR over the Ongoing Debate on Female Genital Mutilation in The Gambia 14 September 2023 View more Reports and GuidesExplore African national legal information
Explore African national legislation and court judgments from Legal Information Institutes across Africa.
Latest Commentary
Successful human trafficking prosecution could see Namibia’s ratings improve
- 24 November 2023
- Carmel Rickard
Namibia’s high court has convicted four people in relation to the trafficking of two young girls, one of them from Angola. Their convictions include infringement of immigration laws, not sending children to school, kidnapping, common assault and rape. In its 2022 global report on trafficking in persons, the US state department rated Namibia as Tier 1 because of its continued commitment to deal with trafficking. However, Namibia was downgraded to Tier 2 in the 2023 report, because of several problems like ‘inappropriately’ penalizing trafficking victims by imprisoning or deporting them, for offences ‘solely committed as a direct result of being trafficked.’ The investigation and prosecution in this new case will likely be among the factors that the US state department considers when ranking Namibia in its next report.
Zambia's constitutional court upholds judge's dismissal
- 24 November 2023
- Carmel Rickard
Five judges of Zambia’s constitutional court have rejected an application by a former member of the high court bench, Joseph Banda, challenging the decision of the country’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, to remove him from office in May 2022. The action against Banda is part of the current government’s declared push to fight corruption. However, in addition to upholding the decision to remove Banda, the judgment also shows that the process of holding Zambian judges to account on matters of misconduct is not operating as it should.
Explained: why the UK’s highest court declared Rwanda agreement unlawful
- 24 November 2023
- Carmel Rickard
A combination of factors led the UK’s apex supreme court to hold that the government’s deal with Rwanda wasn’t lawful. Among them was Rwanda’s poor human rights record, and the Rwandan judiciary’s lack of independence. The deal, outsourcing the management of asylum-seekers to Kigali, is a key element of the UK government’s policy. But it has also been hotly contested, both in political debate and in the UK courts. Initially, the divisional court dismissed a challenge to the deal, but that approach has now been twice rejected, first by the court of appeal and more recently, by the UK’s supreme court. Here’s what the top court found.
Kenyan lawyer must personally repay funds received from ‘corrupt deal’
- 24 November 2023
- Carmel Rickard
A prominent Kenyan lawyer has been ordered personally to pay Kshs10 million to the country’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). In a decision handed down last week, high court judge Esther Maina said Joseph Owino Kojwando had acted to conceal the source of funds and that he was not entitled to keep any part of the money as ‘instruction fees’, since this would unjustly benefit him. The case dealt with land acquired by the then city council of Nairobi to use as a cemetery, in a deal that has since been held by several high court judges to have been fraudulent. According to the EACC, Kojwando was paid Kshs10 million as part of the cemetery deal. The judge also ordered that Kojwando pay the legal costs of the case plus interest at 12% from the date he received the money until it’s paid, in full, to the EACC
Passionate about justice for ‘invisible’ people
- 9 November 2023
- Carmel Rickard
Many readers will have seen reports quoting Thandeka Chauke, a staffer with Lawyers for Human Rights in South Africa, and one of the forces behind efforts to address statelessness in Southern Africa. We wanted to know more about her and her work, and to ask for a heads-up about litigation in this field that could be important for the region.