Overview of Human Rights Developments & Challenges

Background: Why Africa Matters (Socio-Economic & Political Context)

Current State of Human Rights

Human Rights Protection Systems

Future Prospects

Social Context

Economic Context

Political Context

Population

Second largest continent and second most populous continent.

1 billion people in 2009 and estimated 2 billion in 2044 (Population of Americas, Europe and Oceania combined was 1.7 billion in 2011 and is projected to reach 2 billion in 2060: Source – UN Population Fund (UNFPA), State of the World Population 2011)

Young and diverse population

Negatives

One of the poorest regions in the world: (Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia – includes Burundi, Rwanda, Togo and Tanzania: Source-UNPD, The Millennium Development Report 2011 )

Sub-Saharan Africa will be unable to meet the MDG target of reducing the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by half in 2015 (UNDP)

Share of the world’s trade: 1990 – 2000 (2.9% to 2.0%), 2000-2006 (2.0% to 2.3%) [Source: OECD, Organisation for Economic and International Trade)

2.5 % of the world’s purchasing – power parity (The Economist, Dec 3-9, 2011)

Positives Africa’s economies have rebounded from the global economic

recession and expected to have an average growth of 5.8 in 2012 (African Development Bank, Africa Economic Outlook 2011). Six of the world’s ten fastest growing economies over the past decade were African (The Economist December 3 - 9, 2011)

Africa’s mineral wealth and natural resources (commodities boom) partly responsible for the economic growth: oil, gold (about half of the world’s gold reserves), diamonds (a third of the world’s diamonds), copper, cobalt and Colton (The Economist).

Africa’s top five emerging trade partners: China (38%), India (14%), South Korea (7.2%), Brazil (7.1%) and Turkey (6.5%). China replaced the US as Africa’s main trading partner in 2009 (African Development Bank, The African Economic Outlook 2011)

“Africa could be on the brink of an economic- take off, much like China was 30 years ago and India 20 years ago.”-The World Bank (The Economist, December 3-9, 2011)

Democratic Governance Democracy Index 2011-The Economist Intelligence Unit (as at the beginning of

December 2011) (Based on: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning government,

political participation and political culture). 167 countries covered Full democracy: (1 out of 25 countries) Mauritius (Rank, 24) Flawed Democracy: (8 out of 53) Cape Verde (26), South Africa (28), Botswana (33), Mali (63), Lesotho (64), Namibia

(68), Zambia (71) and Ghana (78) Hybrid Regimes: (10 out of 37) Malawi (84), Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger,

Burundi, Egypt (115) Authoritarian Regimes: (25 out of 52) Madagascar, (116), Nigeria, Morocco, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Libya, Comoros,

Gabon, Togo, Cameroon, Gambia, Angola, Swaziland, Rwanda, Cote d’ Ivoire, Congo, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Eritrea, DRC, Guinea Bissau, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Chad (166)[North Korea(167)]

Main Human Rights Challenges

Poverty, Underdevelopment & Inequalities (including HIV/AIDS, Malaria)

Democratic Governance, Crime and Corruption (including capital punishment)

Conflicts (Political Power Struggles, Resources, Religion, Ethnicity)

Discrimination (Gender, Sexual Orientation, Nationality and Ethnic Origin and Religious & Political beliefs)

Region HDI Value Life Expectancy (yrs)

Minimum Yrs of School

Arab States 0.641 70.5 5.9

East Asia and the Pacific

0.671 72.4 7.2

Europe and Central Asia

0.751 71.3 9.7

Latin America & the Caribbean

0.731 74.4 7.8

South Asia 0.548 65.9 4.6

Sub-Saharan Africa

0.463 54.4 4.5

UNDP Human Development Report 2011

Human Development Index Ranks (selected countries)

1. Norway

52. Seychelles

64. Libya

173. Zimbabwe

187. DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Regional Inequalities: Income Gini coefficient

Arab States: 26.4

East Asia and the Pacific: 21.3

Europe and Central Asia: 12.7

South Asia: 28.4

Sub-Saharan Africa: 34.5

Inequalities: Income Gini coefficient (UNDP 2011 Report)

South Africa: 57.8

Columbia: 58.5

Brazil: 53.9

Norway: 25.8

(The lower the figure, the lesser the inequalities)

Country (HDI Rank) Population 2011(millions)

GDP (per capita-pps$)

Norway (1) 4.9 56 214

South Africa (123) 50.5 10 278

Nigeria (156) 165.5 2 203

Lesotho (160) 2.2 1 468

Uganda(161) 34.5 1 217

DRC (187) 67.8 319

Country % of pop. Without clean water

% of ppp $1.25 a day(2000-2009)

National poverty line (2000-2009)

South Africa 4.6% 17.4% 23%

Swaziland 24% 62% 69.2%

Nigeria 35.7% 64.4% 68.7%

Zimbabwe 24.2% ----- 72.0%

DRC 55.5% 59.2% 71.3%

African Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future (15 May 2012)

“One in four Africans, close to 218 million people, are undernourished”

“Chronic food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa stems from decades of poor governance. Regimes bent on amassing wealth absorbed the region’s resources into patrimonial power structures. Self-serving elites, quick to profit from graft and patronage, have stood between leaders and the people, monopolized state revenues and emptied the countryside, but they have provided neither employment nor industry.”-Tegegnework Gettu, Assistant Secretary-General (UNDP) (Preface p vi)

Region Free Partly Free Not Free

America 24(69%) 10(29%) 1 (3%)

Asia-Pacific 16(41%) 15(38%) 7(24%)

Central & Eastern Europe

13(45%) 9 (31%) 7(24%)

Middle East & North Africa

1(6%) 3 (17%) 14(35%)

Sub-Saharan Africa

9 (19%) 22(46%) 17(35%)

Western Europe 24(96%) 1(4%) 0

Corruption Index: Transparency International

Least Corrupt: New Zealand, Denmark and Finland

Most Corrupt: Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea and Somalia

Highest ranking African country: Botswana (32)

Other rankings: South Africa (64), Nigeria (143), Angola (168), Sudan (177) and Somalia (182)

NB. 27 out of 47 African countries regarded as ‘having rampant corruption’, (African Development Bank, The African Economic Outlook 2011)

Global Peace Index Least Peaceful Countries 144: Central African Republic 145: Israel 146: Pakistan 148: Congo (DRC) 150: North Korea (Democratic Peoples’ Republic of

Korea 151: Sudan 152: Iraq 153: Somalia [Current incidents of conflict 2012: Nigeria,

Somalia/Kenya), Uganda, DRC, Sudan, Chad, Mali]

International (UN Human Rights System)

Regional

Sub-Regional

National

International Human Rights Treaties UN Treaty Bodies UN Special Rapporteurs (Special Mandate

Holders) UN Human Rights Council and the Universal

Periodic Review Process International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) International Coordinating Committee of

National Human Rights Institutions (Paris Principles endorsed by the UN General Assembly)

African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981) & African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights(came

into operation 1987) African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

(1990) Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women

(2003) African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

(2007, came into operation 2012) African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights National Human Rights Institutions and Human Rights

NGOs Constitutive Act of the African Union (prohibits

unconstitutional changes of government)

East African Community (1999 Treaty) & the East African Community Court of Justice

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS, 1975 Treaty, amended in 1993) & the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (supplementary protocol of 2005 allows for individual access to the court)

South African Development Community (1992 Treaty, 2001 amendments provide for promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law) & the SADC Tribunal [Campbell judgment and demise of the Tribunal]

Executive

Legislature

Judiciary (South African Constitutional Court as an example)

National human rights institutions

Civil society, especially human rights ngos & media

A hopeless continent to a rising continent? (The Economist, ‘Africa rising, December 3-9, 2011)

Increasing intolerance of undemocratic changes of government – at regional, sub-regional and national levels (suspension of states like Madagascar, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire for regional and sub-regional bodies due to undemocratic changes of power or withholding of such power)

Advances in democratic governance and the democratization process (Nigeria, Ghana, etc) and the Arab Spring phenomenon (Tunisia, Egypt and Libya?)

Increasing role of national human rights institutions and human rights ngos in advancing human rights and democracy

Role of regional and sub-regional human rights mechanisms (including judicial bodies)

Universal periodic review process (UN)?

Conflict in Mali and implications for the region and sub-region (France & US)

Recurrence of post-electoral violence in Kenya (Election on 4 March 4, 2013)

On-going conflict in Darfur Human rights violations Cote d’ Ivoire (Amnesty International Report,

2013) Referendum in Zimbabwe in March 2013 and implications for the sub-

region Conflict in DRC and the newly signed Peace, Security Cooperation

Framework for the DRC and the Region (February 24, 2013) Crime and violence including sexual violence against women in Africa,

particularly South Africa Arab Spring? Tunisia, Egypt and Libya??? Swaziland- the last outpost (Absolute Monarchy with a ban on political

parties!) Somalia! Poverty, Inequalities and Corruption