Africa, the United Nations, and Third Generation Rights

Chapter Four assesses Africa’s contributions to ‘third generation’ rights—‘solidarity’ or ‘group rights’ that emerged in tandem with decolonization after World War II. It traces the genealogy of three such human rights incorporated into the mandate of the United Nations (UN) from the 1950s to 1980s—the right to self-determination, the right to racial non-discrimination, and the right to development—arguing that African political lobbying proved decisive for the recognition and codification of these interrelated rights at the UN. Through writings and speeches critical of colonialism, racism, and global inequality; cultivating alliances with non-African Third World nations; and making the United Nations a more inclusive and representative international body, African leaders, it is shown, helped redefine human rights at the UN in ways that continue to reverberate in our own era.

Conclusion

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie, in a popular 2009 TED Talk, warns of the ‘danger of a single story’ when discussing people and places.1 She recalls how, as a young girl in Nigeria, she read British and American children’s books in which the main characters were white, had blue eyes, ate apples, played in the snow, and talked about the weather. Yet in her country people ate mangoes, it never snowed, and the weather was rarely a topic of conversation. When she finally was able to read African literature—in which young girls like her with dark skin and Afro-textured hair could be characters—she was deeply moved. She realized other stories existed than the ones to which she had first been exposed....

Introduction

Shortly before the end of apartheid, Nelson Mandela, on 26 June, 1990, delivered an address before the US Congress in Washington, DC in which he discussed the aspirations of black South Africans. Seeking American support in ending white minority rule, he spoke of his movement’s struggle to ‘ensure that the rights of every individual’, regardless of ‘race, colour, creed or sex’, were protected under a new democratic constitution and bill of rights. ‘To deny people their human rights’, he asserted, ‘is to challenge their very humanity.’...

Africa, the International Criminal Court, and Human Rights

Chapter Five discusses the operations of The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), which aims ‘to end impunity’ by punishing perpetrators of the gravest crimes known to humankind—crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. Despite its promise, the court has been criticized for its overemphasis on African situations. This chapter assesses African criticisms of the ICC and their accuracy, suggesting that, although they are not always without merit, the court exists as it does today due to African requests for assistance as well as the early and ongoing support of African member states. The chapter also considers the past, present, and possible future impact of the ICC on human rights and international justice in Africa, suggesting that notable progress is being made in both inter-related areas. Finally, it argues that, as with previous eras, Africans have exerted an important yet largely unrecognized influence on human rights in recent times, in this case vis-à-vis the ICC.

Haile Selassie, the League of Nations, and Human Rights Diplomacy

Chapter Three proposes that former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, a figure rarely mentioned in histories of human rights, made significant contributions in the realm of human rights diplomacy in the 1930s. Following Fascist Italy’s invasion of his nation in 1935, he persistently lobbied the League of Nations to uphold Ethiopia’s right to self-determination and punish Italy’s use of chemical weapons and other violations of the Geneva Protocol and Hague Conventions, raising international awareness of Italian war crimes in Africa. As is also shown, he adroitly drew attention to the shortcomings of the League’s Covenant, providing vital lessons for the founding of the United Nations (UN). While Selassie was deposed in the 1970s due to numerous failures as a leader, the chapter demonstrates that for almost three decades he enthralled the international community and prompted rethinking on Europe’s relations with its African colonies that had long-term significance for human rights.

The Congo Free State, Atrocity Tales, and Human Rights History

Chapter One, which explores the colonial roots of human rights, suggests that ideas resembling modern human rights first emerged in the 1890s in response to atrocities in the Congo Free State. It shows that as reports of horrific abuses of Africans under Belgian King Leopold II’s rule circulated worldwide, a shocked international community, using language and concepts resembling contemporary human rights discourses, was stirred to challenge violations of Africans’ rights, propose ways to prevent future infractions, and demand punishments for perpetrators of mass atrocities. While these nineteenth-century visions of human rights did not immediately lead to an international system of human rights protection, the chapter suggests that they nonetheless represented an important precedent for contemporary human rights norms and institutions.

The Perils of ‘Progress’

Chapter Two, building on the insights of the German American political theorist Hannah Arendt, examines the African colonial origins of Nazi atrocities that led to the issuing of such documents as the Nuremberg Principles and Genocide Convention. It shows that Nazi racial beliefs, hardly a product of the 1930s or 40s, emerged from nineteenth-century theories of race and progress that were tested and refined in Africa. Highlighting the plight of blacks in South Africa and Nama and Herero in German South-West Africa, it further demonstrates that the concentration camp as an instrument of dehumanization and death was first perfected in southern Africa and later inspired Nazi proponents of genocide. As to why colonial Africa’s significance for World War II atrocities has largely gone unrecognized, the chapter discusses key events and social processes that gave rise to obfuscations and omissions in global historical memory.