Moving Human Rights? Late Colonial Secrets and Post-Colonial Ambitions in West Africa

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Hultin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Post Colonial

Entangled political histories of twentieth-century West Africa: The case of Guinean exile networks

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
John Straussberger
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Home Country ◽  
West African ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Order

Abstract Following independence in 1958, hundreds of Guinean soldiers, students, and politicians fled their home country in order to build an opposition to President Sékou Touré in exile. This article examines how these exiles built regional and global networks in order to effect political change. In turn, West African states sought to manage exiles in order to apply political pressure on regional rivals. Despite their liminality in a region increasingly dominated by national politics and international organizations, exiles were at the centre of political contestations surrounding citizenship, sovereignty, and human rights that emerged in the three decades following decolonization. Their history underscores the importance of regional frameworks in shaping the post-colonial order in West Africa.

Genocide and State-Induced Famine: Global Ethics and Western Responsibility for Mass Atrocities in Africa

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhoda Howard-Hassmann
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Global Ethics ◽  
The West ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
South West ◽  
South West Africa

AbstractThis article considers Western responsibility for genocide and state-induced famine in Africa. It discusses colonial genocide in South-West Africa and Congo; post-colonial genocide in Rwanda and Darfur; and state-induced famine in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. The article differentiates core, contributory, and circumstantial responsibility for genocide and famine, arguing that except for the two colonial genocides, African political actors bear core responsibility. Nevertheless, the West is responsible for protecting the human rights of all Africans, regardless of which political actors caused their suffering. The article concludes by discussing empathy and interest as means to persuade Western actors to devote more attention to Africa.

Óscar Romero and the Politics of Sainthood

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-291
Author(s):  
Manuel A. Vasquez ◽  
Anna L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
The Other ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Holy See ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity ◽  
The One

In this article, we explore the debates surrounding the proposed canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero, an outspoken defender of human rights and the poor during the civil war in El Salvador, who was assassinated in March 1980 by paramilitary death squads while saying Mass. More specifically, we examine the tension between, on the one hand, local and popular understandings of Romero’s life and legacy and, on the other hand, transnational and institutional interpretations. We argue that the reluctance of the Vatican to advance Romero’s canonization process has to do with the need to domesticate and “privatize” his image. This depoliticization of Romero’s work and teachings is a part of a larger agenda of neo-Romanization, an attempt by the Holy See to redeploy a post-colonial and transnational Catholic regime in the face of the crisis of modernity and the advent of postmodern relativism. This redeployment is based on the control of local religious expressions, particularly those that advocate for a more participatory church, which have proliferated with contemporary globalization

Ebola and human rights in west Africa

The Lancet ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 384 (9960) ◽  
pp. 2091-2093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M Eba
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa

The State of Human Rights in the African Post-Colonial Politics

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-106
Author(s):  
Theoneste Bimenyimana
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
The People ◽  
Current Affairs ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
Foreign Politics

"The aim of this study is to identify and critically assess the effects of appropriation of foreign political ideologies and practices in African political systems. This paper argues that there should be no leader, whatever his worth; look on his own personal problems to be exploited for the benefits of western’s Politics. Which will enable the African systems to develop, secondly, argues that Human Rights should be looked at to be an apportioned – responsibility, shared by both the former colonial powers and the current post-colonial political elites, rather than seeing Human rights promotion as yet another excuse to interfere or control other sovereign nations. The study will involve qualitative research involving reviewing other authors' literature, identifying current affairs, and critical assessing the ways in which neo-colonialism affects the different societies in transition from a colonial past to independence. The study is based on the fact that colonized countries, during the Cold War, suffered political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation, while alignment either with the capitalist or communist ideology failed. Currently there is a felt pressure to adopt a neoliberal ideology in order to access to have access to aid and investment. The study concludes with recommendations to third world leaders, to look at the people they lead as their responsibility, since no leader, whatever his/her worth, can replace the will of people. This results in a felt need to embrace democracy and such democratic values as: strong institutions, an independent judiciary and the separation of powers, individual and minority rights, and civil rights. Keywords: postcolonial politics, appropriation of foreign politics, human rights, principled values of democracy, the inability of African leaders "

scholarly journals Porous Borders and Increasing Human Trafficking in West Africa: Issues and Challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Omolara Akinyemi
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Material Resources

The porous nature of West Africa’s borders, which owes its origin to the hasty way the colonialists carved up the African continent as well as the nature of their management by post-colonial states, has become serious issue in human trafficking, money laundering and other related crimes. Thus, one of the major consequences of porous borders in West Africa today is the rise of trans-border crimes. The problem lies in the complexity of these organizations and their activities, the global penetration and the threat they pose to democracy and legitimate economic development. Some of these trans-border crimes include: the narcotics trade and money laundering, illegal migration and people’s trafficking, smuggling (small and light weapons, food items, vehicles) among others. Nevertheless, the never-ending business of trafficking in humans across borders today is organized by individuals and groups, it is colluding with government officials and its devastating impact on exasperated individual victims is the major concern of this study. Data obtained from primary and secondary sources (literature review and content analysis) were deployed to carry out the study with an analytical and narrative historical method. The study concludes that human trafficking can be reduced to the barest minimum in the region, if West African human and material resources are combined together to expand regional capacity for border security.

scholarly journals Orientalism in the European Court of Human Rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-63
Author(s):  
Charlotte Helen Skeet
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Feminist Legal Theory ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
European Court

Abstract This article provides an anti-Orientalist critique of jurisprudence within the European Court of Human Rights. Discussion is located in the context of the longstanding debate over what it is to be “European” and an awareness of how these wider discourses shape rights adjudication at national and intra-national levels in Europe. Argument draws on literature from post-colonial theorists, cultural studies, and feminist legal theory which identify and discuss “Orientalist” discourses to analyse the production of legal knowledge and jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights. The article argues that Orientalist discourses affect the ways that the Court constructs and positions both the claimant and the respondent state in human rights claims. These constructions influence cases involving Muslim claimants and have a particularly negative impact on the outcome of claims by visibly-Muslim women. The final part of the article suggests ways that these negative discourses and constructions can be countered.

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