FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A University of Arkansas School of Law professor is the winner of the 2009 Human Rights Essay Award. Uche Ewelukwa bested legal scholars from around the world to earn the award sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law.

The theme for the essay competition was, “60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: its contemporary normative impact.” Ewelukwa’s paper, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Child Today: Progress or Problems?” asks if the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been beneficial to African children or if it has proved harmful.

Her essay reviewed the extent to which children are protected in the constitutions of countries in Africa, discussed the influence of the declaration of human rights on constitution-making and the development of human rights ideals in the continent and analyzed relevant judicial decisions emanating from some of the highest courts in the continent, including the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe.

She writes that, “[j]udged by the theme of the year-long campaign launched by the United Nations Secretary-General in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the UDHR – ‘dignity and justice for all of us’ – African children are yet to enjoy the benefits of the revolution ushered in by the UDHR and may have been harmed by the illusions of progress fostered by the numerous resolutions, declarations and conventions on the rights of the African child that it has inspired.”

Ewelukwa argues that children in Africa still confront four persisting tyrannies that the UDHR does not effectively address – the tyranny of silence, the tyranny of culture, the tyranny of poverty and corruption, and the tyranny of globalization. Despite this, Ewelukwa concludes that, “thanks to the UDHR, change has come and there is reason for optimism for the future of the African child.”

Continued progress is essential because, as Eweluka writes, “[c]onsidering that children and young people represent more than half of Africa’s population and have the potential to be the engine that helps transform Africa, laws and policies affecting children are of strategic importance in the continent and must be taken seriously.”

The competition for the annual Human Rights Essay Award is open to legal scholars across the globe.Past winners have come from Australia (2008 and 2003), the United States (2007 and 2004), the United Kingdom (2006) and Hungary (2005). The winning essay is chosen by a distinguished international panel of eminent jurists, which this year included Andrew Clapham, director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Switzerland; Hina Jilani, vice chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, Pakistan; Claudia Martin, co-director of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law; Alex Morawa, Professor of Law at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland; Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture, United Nations; Hélène Ruiz Fabri, president of the European Society of International Law; and Frans Viljoen, director of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa.