Rights In Africa Research Articles

The history of human rights education in Africa and its implications for social work education in Africa

ABSTRACT This article provides a critical overview of the history of the development of human rights education in Africa and the influence it has on social work education and human rights. The research is based on an in-depth integrative literature review and provides a context for an understanding of human rights education in social work in Africa. This history is part of the history and development of human rights on the continent. The discussion will indicate that Africa was at a disadvantage regarding human rights education from the beginning, as most African countries had adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) only by 2019. In Africa, human rights education has focused on curriculum initiatives, particularly ones incorporating human rights concepts into local schools; by contrast, human rights education for professional groups has been infrequent. As social workers interact with marginalized groups and populations, the profession is very well positioned to advance human rights in Africa, provided that social work education incorporates human rights in the curricula. This article will indicate how the history of human rights education in Africa creates the backdrop of understanding the need for advancing human rights education in social work in Africa.

Women's Land Rights in Africa: Societal Demands and Challenges

Women's Land Rights in Africa: Societal Demands and Challenges

COVID-19 and sexual health rights in Africa

COVID-19 and sexual health rights in Africa

A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA POST- COVID-19

The worst global disaster of the twenty-first century so far, COVID-19, has caused major disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods and exposed inequalities within and among countries. Developing countries, particularly in Africa, have been hardest hit as they have had to face unprecedented challenges, with potentially extreme economic, social and sustainable development consequences. Existing challenges were worsened by COVID-19 with significant implications not only for sustainable development, but also for human rights. This article first discusses the relationship between human rights and sustainable development. The discussion then turns to the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable development with a focus on specific and relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and on the protection and enjoyment of human rights in Africa. The article concludes by recommending a human rights-based approach as a clear and compelling direction to sustainable development in Africa in the aftermath of the devastating and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE (ODA) KANADA DALAM UPAYA MENGURANGI KEMISKINAN DAN MEMPERKUAT HAK ASASI MANUSIA DI NEGARA BERKEMBANG DAN AFRIKA TAHUN 2018-2022

This article aims to analyze the provision of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the Canadian government to developing countries and African countries to reduce poverty and strengthen human rights in 2018-2022. Canada is a developed country that provides a lot of humanitarian assistance to developing countries and African countries. This raises the question, “What is the role of Canadian ODA in reducing poverty and strengthening human rights in Africa in 2018-2022?” To help answer the question, the authors use the concept of Humanitarian Financing. ODA provided by Canada in Africa is in the form of financial assistance. In conducting research, this article uses a qualitative research method, namely a literature study by collecting various books, journals, articles, and other sources to be able to answer this problem.

Africa's resource curse: The key role of property rights

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether property rights can change the curse of natural resources into a blessing in African countries. To examine the above question, this study uses the Fraser Institute's and V-dem's index of property rights. Using data from 47 African countries over the period 2000–2020, the system GMM estimates suggest that the negative growth effects of resource rents may turn positive in countries with greater property rights. Furthermore, the quality of the judicial system as a proxy measure of property rights indicates that independence, impartiality, accountability, and the absence of corruption in judicial decisions also mitigate the negative effect of resources on growth. In addition, entrepreneurship, labor productivity, industrialization, and unemployment reduction are the main transmission channels. Strengthening property rights in Africa is therefore an effective policy to reverse the curse related to natural resources.

The Full Enforcement of Socio-economic Rights in Africa: A Dream or a Reality?

The adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) on 27 June 1981 in Nairobi, Kenya was recorded as historic step towards the protection of human rights in Africa. However, to date, Africans’ socio-economic rights are not fully or at all enforced. The author argues that Africa must take a new approach, a strategic one towards economic development in Africa and consequently the enforcement of socio-economic rights. He submits that several strategic approaches, such as development of new laws on the natural resources, producing quality products and services, image related strategies which involve great marketing of Africa, its products, and services. The author is of opinion that there is a link between economic development and the enforcement of socio-economic rights. It is further argued that intra-African trade will enhance sustainable development and economic growth and it is important. It is submitted that African countries must focus more on intra-African trade, which will accelerate sustainable economic development and consequently the enforcement of socio-economic rights, which will in turn reduce poverty and better the lives of millions of Africans who are in dire need of socio-economic rights to be enforced due to the living conditions they are in. Keywords: Africa; socio-economic rights; natural resources, strategic economic development.

Human Rights in Africa and Challenges of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)

In this paper we surmise that the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has since creation done a lot to promote human rights in Africa but has faced challenges which have impeded its success. Several human rights have been violated in African countries but efforts have also been made to improve on the situation. The persistence of human rights violations and non-implementation calls for an improvement in the future so that the African Union and national governments would gain the approval and support of Africans from all works of life. We have relied on a content analysis of available literature to be able to appreciate first, the state of human and peoples’ rights in Africa, role of the ACHPR, challenges and reform to better the situation in the future.

The Impact of Civil Society and Social Movements on Advancing Democracy and Protection of Human Rights in Africa

This research paper examines the role of civil society, including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and social movements, in promoting democratic governance and protecting human rights across Africa. It explores the various ways civil society actors contribute to a stronger Pan-African democratic landscape, while acknowledging the challenges they face. The paper will discuss how NGOs advocate for policy change, monitor elections, and empower citizens. Social movements will be examined for their role in mobilizing communities and raising awareness of human rights abuses.

Impact of Western Donor Funding on Legalizing LGBTQ Rights in Africa: Nigeria in Perspective

Africa, deeply rooted in its cultural and religious values, often perceives LGBTQ legislation as a Western imposition, resisting such laws and resulting in the Global North viewing the continent as “non-adhering to human rights”. In response, governmental and non-governmental organizations, along with donor-funded advocates, are working to change attitudes within Africa. This paper, through a historical overview, asserts that some scholars trace Africa’s negative stance towards LGBTQ rights to colonial rule, leading the continent to uphold colonial-era laws ingrained in their cultural and religious values. Furthermore, the paper highlights that Africa’s homophobic stance towards LGBTQ rights has led to Western threats to withhold aid from non-conforming nations as a means to enforce non-African human rights standards. It underscores that in Nigeria, the Samoa Agreement aims to advance LGBTQ rights, and despite some scholars’ support for the agreement, the implicit clauses related to LGBTQ may create grounds for formal legalization, causing future complications due to Nigeria’s strong cultural and religious opposition. The paper concludes that political compromises by Nigerian leaders, divisions along religious and cultural lines, and the presence of LGBTQ communities supported by various organizations underscore the complexity of the issue. Additionally, it recommends establishing rehabilitation centers for LGBTQ individuals to realign their orientations with conforming sexual identities. The paper also suggests that it is crucial for the Nigerian government to balance cultural preservation with addressing global human rights standards when considering international agreements.

Taxation and the Realisation of Socioeconomic Rights in Africa: What Is the Role of International Cooperation?

Taxation and the Realisation of Socioeconomic Rights in Africa: What Is the Role of International Cooperation?

The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Rights in Africa

This article explores the complex relationship between human rights law and climate change. The study further examines how climate change can affect human rights, while also considering how climate change can create barriers to the enjoyment of these rights. Through a comprehensive analysis of the literature and real-world case studies, the article provides a nuanced understanding of how climate change can impact human rights and offers recommendations for policymakers seeking to balance the interests of inventors and society as a whole.

Human Rights Litigation in Africa Under Attack

Human rights values, to which international organisations adhere, serve not only as the working premise for achieving their goals but also constitute an inherent part of their legal framework and judicial decisions. Established by States that claim to share a fundamental set of values from the outset and are committed to reflecting these values throughout their activities, the African Union is no exception. The organisation articulated its fundamental principles and values in its founding Treaties, which include, among others, ‘respect for democratic principles, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance.’ Over time, various preventive, monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms have been developed to realise these human rights objectives in the continent. This progress includes the establishment of the African Commission in 1987 and the creation of the African Court in 1998, as well as the expansion of human rights jurisdiction of sub-regional courts over time. This article delves into the resistance faced by the judicial mechanisms used to enforce human rights in Africa. As demonstrated, in all cases under discussion, a State subject to an adverse ruling of the court responded by questioning its legitimacy and authority, advocating for institutional reforms to weaken the fledgling human rights system on the continent. The article highlights the similarities and differences between all cases, illustrating that the impact of political reaction in the case of the continental African Court and the SADC Tribunal has been much more severe than the ECOWAS and the EACJ court. It is argued that the institutional design of the courts, the scale of the community, relative State power, the subject matter of the judgment, the requirement to obtain consensus to revise the founding treaty of the courts, and the engagement of civil societies played crucial roles in determining the type and outcome of backlash in the cases under discussion.

Does the Canadian government support women's rights to land in sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) commits Canada to promote the land rights of women, and to provide at least 50 per cent of bilateral funding to sub-Saharan African countries by 2021. This article seeks to answer the question: What is the Government of Canada (GAC) currently doing to strengthen women's land rights in Africa? We identified GAC-funded projects which include components to support women's rights to land in Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, and Tanzania. However, not all of these have yet implemented land rights-related activities.

In someone else’s words: Judicial borrowing and the semantic authority of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights

AbstractSince its first judgment on the merits in 2013, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Court or ACtHPR) jurisprudence has bourgeoned. In building this jurisprudence, the African Court has borrowed significantly from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This article empirically maps judicial borrowing in the jurisprudence of the African Court and connects this practice to the theoretical framing of the semantic authority of interpretive actors in international law. The article argues that judicial borrowing allows the African Court to borrow the semantic authority of these more established actors in the field of international human rights law. The practice has allowed the Court to boost its interpretive claims. The article posits that the Court is simultaneously internalizing external references: it transforms them into an internal part of its jurisprudence. Therefore, the African Court is transforming what was initially the semantic authority of its homologues in Strasbourg and San José, into assertions of its own semantic authority. This transformation allows the Court to assert itself as the central authority for the interpretation of human rights in Africa. These findings shed new light onto wider scholarly debates on the characteristics of African human rights jurisprudence in the field of international human rights law.

Advice without Consent?: Assessing the Advisory Jurisdiction of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

ABSTRACT: Despite enduring prolonged skepticism, Africa’s regional human rights has a complex architecture of institutions, norms, procedures, and jurisprudence. A major entity among these institutions is the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In existence for over one and a half decades, the Court remains an institution in transition. With an identity defined mostly by its contentious jurisdiction, the significance of its advisory jurisdiction has been neglected. Three hundred eight cases (95.36 percent) of the 323 cases received by the court in its first fifteen years were contentious. The remaining fifteen (less than 5 percent) were advisory. Notwithstanding its relative rarity, the initial evidence suggests that advisory jurisdiction of the African Court could potentially play a significant role in shaping the trajectory of human rights norms in Africa. This article explores the mechanics and potential impact of the advisory jurisdiction of the African Court for the future of human rights in Africa.

From 'puzzling' to comprehensible and efficient: Reform proposals to the African human rights framework through a 'system' lens

Forty years after the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African architecture for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa has been enriched both at the normative and institutional levels. This enrichment has led in legal analyses both to the affirmation of the existence of an 'African human rights system', on the one hand and, on the other, to the criticism of an unnecessarily complex and not always efficient mechanism. After highlighting the specific logic of the emerging African system, this article indicates the avenues for institutional and methodological reform that should lead to the construction of a truly coherent, effective and efficient African human rights system.

The Expansion of Women’s Rights in Africa

Twenty years after the African Union adopted the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, constitutional and legislative provisions on women’s rights have proliferated across the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa has achieved some of the world’s highest rates of improvement in women’s economic empowerment. African women have also been at the forefront of global efforts to increase female representation in political and business leadership, peacebuilding, and other areas. But progress on women’s rights has been weaker in the domain of family law on issues including inheritance rights and reproductive freedom. Africa also ranks lowest in closing the gender gap in education, despite major gains at the primary school level.

Visibility or Impact? International Efforts to Defend LGBTQI+ Rights in Africa

Abstract Most struggles for LGBTQI+ rights play out at the national level. However, the question of sexual and gender minorities’ rights periodically appears as a point of friction in international relations as well. This article analyses the question of international efforts to defend LGBTQI+ rights in countries of the Global South, with a particular focus on Western countries’ endeavours in Africa. Combining policy analysis, critique and recommendations, it asks how and when international actors should and should not intervene. It recognizes that motives for intervening can be problematic and the means often counterproductive, especially when exhibiting neo-imperialist tendencies and constituting ad hoc reactions to events in the media. Countering essentialist arguments about ‘authentic’ African culture and values, influenced by religious beliefs, is also a significant challenge. I argue that more fruitful efforts should instead be centred on local rights defenders’ perspectives and supporting their priorities and initiatives, based on concerted, long-term, principled strategies. International actors, however, are reluctant to adopt such approaches because of a desire for short-term visible action, even if less effective or not effective at all. This conundrum is a fundamental problem in the area of foreign aid writ large, as greater impact often requires less visibility on the part of international actors, but donor countries want domestic and international recognition of their efforts. The article distils key lessons learnt and principles for action that have emerged over the past 15 to 20 years, brought together in one place for the first time. It aims to stimulate discussions among practitioners and academics. It should be of particular interest to human rights practitioners, especially those who are involved or contemplating getting involved in defending the rights of sexual and gender minorities internationally.

Government repression and citizen support for democratic rights in Africa

ABSTRACT Public opinion polls conducted over the past five years point to a downward trend in African citizens’ support for civil society and media freedoms. This is despite the flourishing of civil society and media actors as well as the expansion of democracy on the continent in the post-Cold War period. What explains this downward trend in public support? We use cross-national polling data from the Afrobarometer survey to examine the decline in public support for freedoms of association and media between 2011 and 2018 in the African context, a continent that has experienced decades of democratization waves and pressure. Using a multilevel statistical modelling approach, we analyse the influence of government repression of civil society and media actors on citizen support for enhanced government control over freedoms of association and the media. Our study shows that the government’s repressive actions against civil society and media actors increases the probability that citizens will support control over association and media freedoms. Concerningly, this suggests government clampdowns on democratic rights influences the African publics to support such clampdowns, potentially legitimizing them.