Human Rights in Contemporary Africa by Johnson Anna Maria;

Author:Johnson, Anna Maria; [Johnson, Anna Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing LLC

All societies should assess their vulnerability and work at every level to build resilience, to build tolerance and to build vigilance in detecting early warning signals ... It means ensuring that the rule of law is respected and that all human rights are protected without discrimination. It means managing diversity, supporting a strong civil society and allowing all peoples’ voices to be heard ... We must do more as a community of nations and as global citizens if we are to live up to the promise of “never again” and act upon our collective responsibility to protect.

Today, as ethnic conflicts smolder throughout much of eastern Africa, especially in South Sudan, in the Darfur region of Sudan, and in Uganda, there is dire need to follow Ban Ki-Moon’s advice and reduce the chances of genocide. While not all stakeholders agree on the best specific course of action, it is clear that without dramatic changes, more lives will be ruined—and some groups are at risk of extinction.

Gender Issues

Many times, traditional roles and gender-related practices are at odds with contemporary ideas of development and human rights. Some subcultures do not expect women to be educated because they have traditionally been thought of as the property of the community or of their fathers and husbands; therefore, they have no need of education or the ability to sustain a livelihood. Women have traditionally been excluded from participation in governance.

Somalia also has the highest rate of FGM/C of any country and the most extreme form. About 98 percent of women have experienced this. FGM/C is also practiced in many other countries but is more concentrated in eastern African countries.

Kenya and Its Neighbors: The Global Refugee Crisis

Migration and refugee issues pose great challenges, and Kenya is no exception. Refugees from South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea have fled to Kenya and Ethiopia. Somali Kenyans and other Muslim Kenyans face discrimination in the wake of terrorist attacks perpetrated by Al-Shabaab. Kenya is slowly getting more oppressive, curtailing media rights. Antiterrorist laws in both Kenya and Ethiopia are being misused to quash opposition and the media.

In a more positive direction, however, according to the UN, Kenya “passed a mining bill that is compliant with human rights standards and benefited from public consultations with key stakeholders during the drafting process, including the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and civil society organizations.” This shows that Kenya has not lost sight of the need to consider human rights in its laws.

In May of 2016, however, Kenya announced its intention to close down two refugee camps, including one in Dadaab (located in Garissa), which is the world’s largest, and another in Kakuma (in Turkana). Kenya’s principal secretary for the Interior explained this was because the country “was no longer able to continue to shoulder the heavy economic, security, and environmental burden of hosting over 600,000 refugees for almost a quarter of the century.”

One Woman’s Initiative to Save Mothers and Babies

Edna Adan Ismail, former first lady and foreign minister of Somalia, was born in Hargeisa, in what is now Somaliland, the daughter of a Somali medical doctor.

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