LCP4807 Assignment 2 (DETAILED ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED

LCP4807 Assignment 2 (DETAILED ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED Answers, guidelines, workings and references , The Republic of Qwanza is a Southern African country with a constitution which is a replica of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) adopted in 2004. Qwanza has ratified the major UN human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (including the two optional protocols), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) including its optional Protocols. Qwanza has also ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; The Protocol Establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. On 15 May 2022 a man was murdered near Bali village in the Republic of Qwanza. Mr Timothy Ibo was accused of committing the crime and brought to trial. He denied the offence. On 15 June 2023 the High Court in Qwanza convicted him of the murder and sentenced him to death, the only sentence available for the offence of murder under Qwanza law. According to Section 46 of the 1960 Criminal and Other Offences Act of Qwanza “a person who commits murder is liable to suffer death.” Mr Ibo claims that the death sentence as provided for in the Criminal and Other Offences Act is unconstitutional and violates several human rights as provided for in the Constitution of Qwanza as well as international human rights instruments that Qwanza has ratified. He then appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal and challenged the conviction and sentence. On 16 March 2024 the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal both on the conviction and sentence. Mr Ibo further appealed both the conviction and sentence to the Constitutional Court which is the highest court in Qwanza. In November 2024, the Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal against the conviction and rejected the merits of Mr Ibo’s challenge to the Constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty, by holding that the mandatory death sentence for murder was consistent with the laws of Qwanza. The Association for Lawyers Against Death Penalty (ALADP) an International Non-Governmental-Organisation which provides legal representation and assistance to individuals facing death penalty would like to institute legal proceedings against the Republic of Qwanza on behalf of Mr Ibo. ALADP would like to take the matter to the Human Rights Committee of the ICCPR. They approach you as an expert in international human rights law for advice/legal opinion. Using the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other relevant United Nations and African Union instruments advise ALADP. In your legal opinion reflect on whether ALADP can take the case to the Human Rights Committee (HRC). Use authority to justify your answers. Highlight the following points: a) The procedural issues involved in bringing a case before the HRC. b) Merits of the case. c) Alleged rights that the death penalty violates. d) The remedies that the HRC can grant.