Rethinking the Impact of Structural Adjustment Programs on Human Rights Violations in West Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 87-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotsmart Fonjong
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
West African ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Structural Adjustment Programs ◽  
Liberalization Policy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Public Demonstrations ◽  
Country Specific

Abstract In this article I argue that the worsening human rights situation of West Africa in the early 1990s was largely the creation of the structural adjustment policies (SAP) of the IMF/World Bank. The austerity measures implemented through SAP plunged the region into hardship, forcing the population to demand better living conditions through public demonstrations and protests. Attempts by the West African states to contain protesters led to further human rights abuses. The implementation of a common liberalization policy across board without taking into account the specificities of each country was counterproductive. In fact, some of the excesses recorded could have been avoided if SAPs had been country specific and human rights-based.

scholarly journals Thinking Systemically About Transitional Justice, Legal Systems, and Resilience

2021 ◽  
pp. 530-550
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Resilience Thinking ◽  
Systemic Impact ◽  
Resilience Framework ◽  
The Impact

Transitional justice refers to the set of judicial and non-judicial processes that societies may use to deal with legacies of past human rights abuses and atrocities. While the field is rapidly expanding, to date there are almost no systematic analyses of transitional justice within a resilience framework, or vice versa. The purpose of this chapter is to address that gap and to demonstrate why resilience is highly relevant for transitional justice theory and practice. It argues that resilience thinking can enhance the impact of transitional justice on the ground, by contributing to the development of more ecological approaches to dealing with the past that locate individuals within their broader social environments. The chapter also reflects on the conceptual and empirical utility of resilience as a concept that opens up a space for analyzing the wider societal and systemic impact of legal systems more generally.

scholarly journals Foreign Lending Dilemma and Poverty in Pakistan, India and Bhutan: A Panel Data Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
Mariam Abbas Soharwardi ◽  
Hina Ali ◽  
Mujahid Ali
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Bank Lending ◽  
Structural Adjustment Programs ◽  
Foreign Lending ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adjustment Programs

Purpose: In developing countries foreign lending becomes a problem now a day instead of spend this lending for the development purposes. Ultimately this problem causes poverty in these countries where usage of foreign lending is not in proper ways. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of IMF and World Bank lending on poverty in Pakistan, India and Bhutan. In this study corruption, GDP, unemployment, secondary enrolment, and external debt are used as independent variables and poverty headcount ratio as dependent variable. Study finds out the relationship of corruption, unemployment and external debts with poverty and showing the positive relationship while secondary enrolment and GDP showing negative relation with poverty. Moreover study finds out that lending of IMF and WORLD BANK mostly causes poverty in these developing countries instead of reducing poverty because of corrupt government's weak policies for the distribution of loans. It is examined that the countries with strong policies and non-corrupt government can take full advantage of these lending for poverty reduction. But it is noticed that the countries which are the members of IMF structural adjustment programs are facing more poverty problems as compare to those countries which are not involved in these programs or even have less numbers of lending. Those countries are much better than the countries involve in structural adjustment programs.

scholarly journals A Synoptic Review of Forestry and Forest Products Trade and Production in Africa- The Case of Wood and Non-Wood Forest Products in West Africa

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Adekunle Adesina ◽  
Zhu Jiangang ◽  
Tang Xiaolan
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
West African ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Forest Reserves ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
The Impact

According to this study, approximately half of Africa's forests are utilized primarily or partially for the production of wood and non-wood commodities. Aims to evaluate Africa's forestry and forest products, namely Wood Forest Products (WFPs) and Non-wood Forest Products (NWFPs) in the sixteen (16) West African countries. While adhering to the following guidelines: wood extraction and preparation, analyzing wood primarily used as an energy source in Africa, identifying non-wood forest products in Africa, the state of export, trade, and customs procedures in West Africa, and examining the role of forests and forest stakeholders in Africa's low-carbon economy transition. An exploratory literature review of selected wood forest products and non-wood forest products (plants and animals) in West Africa identifying the country, the natural land area with the natural habitat issues of the forest, the species most harvested and traded in the West African sub-region. The study reemphasized some government legislation, policies, and market trade failures and limitations while also stating that trees may help in the low-carbon revolution through interventions aimed at maintaining, improving, and restoring natural capital have demonstrated that high environmental requirements of sustainable forest management (SFM) may be met in both natural and planted forests. The study identified a systematic assessment of the most common forest products (wood and non-wood forest products) considering the available data on the national forest reserves of the selected countries in West Africa. The study also revealed the need for biodiversity conservation of the available forest reserves to help mitigate the impact of global warming targeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 13- Climate Action. Which is focused on integrating climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning signs into the national policies, improving forest planning and management education, awareness-raising, and institutional capacity within the sub-region.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Impact of International Monetary Fund Programs on Economic Performance of Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Henry Kerich
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Structural Adjustment Programs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adjustment Programs

<p>Like most other countries in developing countries, Kenya faces economic challenges as it tries to stabilize its balance of payments, reduce external debts and curb high unemployment rates.  Structural adjustment programs (SAPs) are defined as economic programs mainly set for developing countries supported by the Bretton Woods institutions since the beginning of 1980s. As a result of prolonged balance of payments deficits, high unemployment rates and high debts, brought about by poor economic performance, the country has turned to International Monetary Fund for credit assistance. This research sought to examine if there was a relationship between structural adjustment programs and economic performance in Kenya. The results in this study revealed a significant correlation between IMF structural adjustment programs and economic performance in Kenya. The findings showed that the three dependent variables analyzed notably, balance of payments, debts, and unemployment showed a strong correlation with IMF structural adjustment programs.</p>

Protests unnerve but do not threaten Angolan regime

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Illegal Immigration ◽  
Oil Price ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Domestic Security ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Military Forces

Significance Protests over state brutality, corruption and rising inequality have become more frequent in recent years and increased in intensity since the oil price has dropped. Impacts Efforts to clamp down on unpopular illegal immigration will have limited success due to Angola's porous borders. Military embarrassments in West Africa will dent appetite for foreign military involvement, releasing capacity for domestic security. Activities in Cabinda could exacerbate tensions with neighbours, where military forces cross the border in pursuit of Congolese miners. Western reports on human rights abuses will have little effect on the regime, which prioritises ties with Russia, China and Brazil.

A Simplistic Approach to Health Policy Analysis: The World Bank Team on the Indian Health Sector

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debabar Banerji
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Health Financing ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Structural Adjustment Programs ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Health Policy Analysis ◽  
The Impact

A World Bank report on the health sector in India has set out to offer an alternative policy framework to cushion the impact of structural adjustment programs on health services. By choosing health financing as a tool for policy analysis, it has arrived at highly questionable conclusions.

scholarly journals Modeling gas exchange and biomass production in West African Sahelian and Sudanian ecological zones

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 3789-3812
Author(s):  
Jaber Rahimi ◽  
Expedit Evariste Ago ◽  
Augustine Ayantunde ◽  
Sina Berger ◽  
Jan Bogaert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
West African ◽  
Biogeochemical Model ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mean Square Errors

Abstract. West African Sahelian and Sudanian ecosystems provide essential services to people and also play a significant role within the global carbon cycle. However, climate and land use are dynamically changing, and uncertainty remains with respect to how these changes will affect the potential of these regions to provide food and fodder resources or how they will affect the biosphere–atmosphere exchange of CO2. In this study, we investigate the capacity of a process-based biogeochemical model, LandscapeDNDC, to simulate net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and aboveground biomass of typical managed and natural Sahelian and Sudanian savanna ecosystems. In order to improve the simulation of phenology, we introduced soil-water availability as a common driver of foliage development and productivity for all of these systems. The new approach was tested by using a sample of sites (calibration sites) that provided NEE from flux tower observations as well as leaf area index data from satellite images (MODIS, MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). For assessing the simulation accuracy, we applied the calibrated model to 42 additional sites (validation sites) across West Africa for which measured aboveground biomass data were available. The model showed good performance regarding biomass of crops, grass, or trees, yielding correlation coefficients of 0.82, 0.94, and 0.77 and root-mean-square errors of 0.15, 0.22, and 0.12 kg m−2, respectively. The simulations indicate aboveground carbon stocks of up to 0.17, 0.33, and 0.54 kg C ha−1 m−2 for agricultural, savanna grasslands, and savanna mixed tree–grassland sites, respectively. Carbon stocks and exchange rates were particularly correlated with the abundance of trees, and grass biomass and crop yields were higher under more humid climatic conditions. Our study shows the capability of LandscapeDNDC to accurately simulate carbon balances in natural and agricultural ecosystems in semiarid West Africa under a wide range of conditions; thus, the model could be used to assess the impact of land-use and climate change on the regional biomass productivity.

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