Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- Note by the Series Editor / Peter Malanczuk -- About the Author / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- Preface / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 1 Custom, Authority and the Creation of International Law / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 2 Situating International Law in Municipal Legal Systems in Africa / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 3 The Newly Emergent State and the Devolution of Pre-Independence Treaties / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 4 Succession to Treaties and International Fluvial Law in Africa: The Niger Treaties / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 5 Contextualizing Democracy and Human Rights in Africa / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 6 Protecting Human Rights in the Constitution: The Case of Malawi / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 7 The Refugee Problem in Post-Apartheid Southern Africa / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 8 Refugees, Law and Politics: The Evolution of Refugee Policy in Malawi / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 9 The Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes in Post-Colonial Africa: The First Two Decades / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 10 Regulating the Common Utilization and Management of International Watercourses: The Senegal Regime / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 11 Southern African Land-Locked States and Rights of Access and Transit Under the New Law of the Sea / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- 12 Environment and Development in Africa in the 1990s: Some Legal Issues / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- Appendix / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- Index / Tiyanjana Maluwa -- Index of Cases / Tiyanjana Maluwa.

African States have contributed to the development of modern international law in various ways. This contribution can be assessed through an examination of the actual practice of these States in their interactions with each other, and with other States in the wider international community, on various matters which have a bearing on the creation of legal rules for the international community. Taken together, the case studies presented in this book demonstrate that, despite its apparent marginalization in the international system, Africa can stake a valid claim to being part of the on-going process of shaping new rules and principles of international law while strengthening existing ones. Some of the more important examples are: the broadening of the refugee definition and the principle of non-refoulement in the area of refugee law; the rights of access and transit to the sea and the concept of the exclusive economic zone in the law of the sea; the principle of uti possidetis ; the concept of `peoples' rights', as distinguished from that of `human rights'; the very expansion of the traditional categorization of human rights to embrace the so-called third generation rights, such as the right to development; the Nyerere doctrine of State succession; and, in general, certain principles in the area of international fluvial law concerning the common management and utilization of shared watercourses. The discussions in this book are informed by the belief that post-colonial African States have tended to view the creation and application of international law as a historically engaged activity through which they can now empower themselves as part of the modern international community.

English

Description based on print version record.