HUMAN RIGHTS - The African Mirror

Jul

02

2021

Panel advises Dutch government to apologise for slavery

HUMAN RIGHTS

AN advisory panel in the Netherlands has told the government to acknowledge that the 17th-19th century transatlantic slave trade amounted to crimes against humanity, and to apologise for the Dutch role. The independent panel, whose recommendations are not binding, was set up following protests over the murder of George Floyd, an African-American in police custody in the United States. It noted that Dutch people's knowledge of the country's colonial past is weak and recommended it be taught in schools. "History cannot be turned back," chairwoman Dagmar Oudshoorn said in a summary of the panel's findings. "However it is possible to…

Apr

20

2021

By The African Mirror

The global approach to vaccine equity is failing: additional steps that would help

HUMAN RIGHTS

ACCUSATIONS abound of vaccine nationalism against states that stockpile vaccines and of vaccine apartheid, as COVID-19 vaccines become concentrated in rich countries. Calls for vaccine equity or justice demand vaccine allocation on account of need, based on the idea that no one is safe until everyone is safe. ERIN HANNAH, Department Chair/Associate Professor of Political Science, King's University College, Western University JAMES SCOTT, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, King's College London SILKE TROMMER, Senior Lecturer Politics , University of Manchester SOPHIE HARMAN, Professor of International Politics, Queen Mary University of London At stake is our ability to ensure an end…

Jun

23

2021

By The African Mirror

U.N. agency says 41 million on verge of famine

HUMAN RIGHTS

MAYTAAL ANGEL SOME 41 million people worldwide are at imminent risk of famine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday, saying soaring prices for basic foods were compounding existing pressures on food security. Another half a million are already experiencing famine-like conditions, said the WFP's Executive Director David Beasley. "We now have four countries where famine-like conditions are present. Meanwhile 41 million people are literally knocking on famine's door," he said. The WFP, which is funded entirely by voluntary donations, said it needs to raise $6 billion immediately to reach those at risk, in 43 countries. "We…

May

08

2021

By The African Mirror

From teaching to football, communities seen as key to ending use of child soldiers

HUMAN RIGHTS

EMELINE WUILBERCQ Listening to local communities is key to meeting a global goal of ending the use of children by armed groups by 2025, a top United Nations (U.N.) official and charities said on Thursday. Former child soldiers often face stigma when they return home and they risk being re-recruited if they cannot find food, security and support among their communities, according to experts on child soldiers. "Even when separated from armed forces and groups, children continue to struggle in regaining their place in their families and communities," the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba told…

Jun

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Actor Blanchett sees pandemic as chance for reflection on plight of refugees

HUMAN RIGHTS

MARIE-LOUISE GUMUCHIAN THIS year's World Refugee Day offers a chance to reflect on the uncertainty faced by those forced to flee their homes, Oscar winner Cate Blanchett says as the world grapples with the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian actor, a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said the annual June 20 event came during a time of "challenge and reflection". "We've been forced to confront what uncertainty feels like and of course that is the situation that the majority of refugees live with, year in, year out," Blanchett told Reuters in an interview. "There's a…

Jun

19

2021

By The African Mirror

OPINION: We must understand the context of cocoa farming to stop child labour in West Africa

HUMAN RIGHTS

MICHAEL EHIS ODIJIE IT is now two decades since reports of child slavery and child labour in cocoa cultivation in West Africa led to a global campaign against these practices. Numerous initiatives to combat child labour have been launched by groups such as chocolate manufacturers through sustainability schemes, standards organisations like Fairtrade, multi-stakeholder groups such as the International Cocoa Initiative, and NGOs. However, research suggests that child labour in cocoa farming in West Africa is still rampant. Although trafficking is difficult to study, media reports suggest that children are still being trafficked into cocoa farms in large numbers. Several factors explain the lack of success of these programmes…

Jun

18

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. Supreme Court rules for Nestle, Cargill over slavery lawsuit

HUMAN RIGHTS

THE U.S. Supreme Court yesterday threw out a lawsuit accusing Cargill Inc and a Nestle SA subsidiary of knowingly helping perpetuate slavery at Ivory Coast cocoa farms, but sidestepped a broader ruling on the permissibility of suits accusing American companies of human rights violations abroad. The 8-1 ruling authored by Justice Clarence Thomas reversed a lower court decision that had allowed the lawsuit, brought on behalf of former child slaves from Mali who worked at the farms, filed against the companies in 2005 to proceed. The court ruled the claim could not be brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which…

Jun

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Child labour rises globally for the first time in decades

HUMAN RIGHTS

EMELINE WUILBERCQ CHILD labour has risen for the first time in 20 years, the United Nations has said, with one in 10 children in work worldwide and millions more at risk due to COVID-19. The number of child labourers has increased to 160 million from 152 million in 2016, with the greatest rise in Africa due to population growth, crises and poverty, said the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF). "We are losing ground in the fight against child labour, and the last year has not made that fight any easier," UNICEF's executive director Henrietta Fore…

Jun

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Millions of Ugandans denied vital services over digital ID cards

HUMAN RIGHTS

LIAM TAYLOR MILLIONS of Ugandans struggle to access vital public services and entitlements as they lack digital identity cards, six years after they were introduced, human rights groups said on Tuesday. Government data shows that a quarter of Ugandan adults, or 4.5 million people, did not have a biometric identity card in 2020, with pregnant women being turned away from health centres and old people unable to claim welfare payments, they said. "There are significant weaknesses in the digital ID system," said Salima Namusobya, head of the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), one of three co-authors of Tuesday's…

Jun

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Uganda drive to certify customary land runs into culture clash

HUMAN RIGHTS

LIAM TAYLOR WHEN the residents of a northern Ugandan village heard about a plan to document their land, they worried it was going to be stolen. But after photographing the land in Owele and taking coordinates, government officials gave people there something they never had before: pieces of paper proving the land they lived on was theirs. The lush grasslands of Owele, in Pader district, are regulated by clans, families and tradition, and before then had no formal land titles. Santa Otyeka, a 73-year-old parish leader, said her new land ownership document stopped her brothers-in-law from taking her land after…