HUMAN RIGHTS - The African Mirror

May

20

2020

In parched southern Africa, coronavirus spurs action on water supply

HUMAN RIGHTS

As governments race to drill boreholes and fill up water tankers, residents want solutions that will last long after the pandemic By Kim Harrisberg and Lungelo Ndlovu JOHANNESBURG/BULAWAYO - Fifty people and their cattle share the only borehole in Gongu village in southwestern Zimbabwe, meaning frequent handwashing to fight the coronavirus is easier said than done. Across drought-hit southern Africa, COVID-19 has spurred governments to dispatch water tankers, drill boreholes and repair taps - solutions experts and residents of thirsty slums and villages say must last long after the pandemic has passed. "We're calling for the government to do more…

Jun

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Traumatised by Boko Haram violence, women seek counseling to help them cope

HUMAN RIGHTS

ADAOBI TRICIA NWAUBANI FATI Ibrahim was one of scores of women gathered outside a tent in a remote community of Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, struggling for a chance to get in and receive help. Three years ago her husband was murdered, her first son went missing, and she was forced to flee her hometown of Gwoza in northeast Nigeria when Boko Haram Islamist militants attacked. Struggling to cope, a friend guided her to free counselling sessions set up this year by the NEEM Foundation, a non-profit that helps people impacted by the eight-year insurgency in which Boko Haram has killed more…

Jun

24

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s first black Miss Universe uses platform to fight racism

HUMAN RIGHTS

KIM HARRISBERG WHEN Zozibini Tunzi marched in the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City, the latest Miss Universe kept thinking how young people in her native South Africa died fighting for the same cause 44 years ago. "South African students were marching against systemic racism," said Tunzi, 26, recalling the 1976 Soweto Uprising when tens of thousands of students protested against apartheid laws that segregated and controlled the black majority. "So many years later, that's still happening, not only in South Africa, but across the world," she in an interview from New York, where she is spending her…

Jun

24

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo officials vow to tackle child labour at mines as virus threatens spike

HUMAN RIGHTS

MALAICKA ADIHA Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo's southeastern mining heartland are boosting efforts to tackle child labour amid concerns that the coronavirus pandemic could drive more families to put their children to work in mines, officials said. Congo is Africa's main producer of copper and the top global source of cobalt, accounting for two-thirds of global supplies of the metal used in smartphones and electric car batteries. Mining accounts for 32% of Congo's national output and the economy has been hard hit by the pandemic, which has slowed demand for metals and other raw materials. The slump means mining workers are…

Jun

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Gender violence: From grief to rupture to movement

HUMAN RIGHTS

High rates of femicide make South Africa one of the most dangerous places to be female. With the government failing to protect women, it’s time for a movement that will change the status quo. Alarge chunk of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 – his almost 900-page novel that was published in 2004, a year after his death – consists of relentless, forensic report-style accounts of the murders of women and girls in a fictionalised version of Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez. Bolaño details 112 murders over a five-year period. Mutilated bodies turn up in the desert. They’re often never identified and arrests are seldom…

Jan

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian rights body says security forces killed at least 76 in summer unrest after musician’s killing

HUMAN RIGHTS

ETHIOPIA’S state-appointed human rights commission says security forces killed at least 76 people and wounded nearly 200 during violent unrest in June and July that followed the killing of a popular singer. The commission also detailed brutality by civilians involved in the clashes, saying some attackers beheaded and tortured people after dragging them from their homes and using ethnic slurs. The "widespread and systematic attack" on civilians by attackers constituted crimes against humanity, the commission said. Its report on the violence, some of the worst in Ethiopia since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, said a total of…

Jan

14

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 spurs calls to boost protections for millions of homeworkers

HUMAN RIGHTS

EMMA BATHA THE dramatic global shift to remote working during COVID-19 lockdowns has underscored an urgent need for greater protections for homeworkers, many of whom are paid far less than those employed outside the home, the United Nations has said. About 7.9% of workers - 260 million people - were home-based before the pandemic, but this figure has more than doubled, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). "Homeworkers have been invisible for too long. But the explosion in home working during the pandemic has highlighted the poor working conditions experienced by millions worldwide," ILO economist Janine Berg told the…

Jan

19

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia: A partial view of the humanitarian fallout emerges in Tigray

HUMAN RIGHTS

BEN PARKER FOOD shortages, widespread looting, and sexual violence were among the findings in the first on-the-ground look at the situation in Tigray by UN and Ethiopian officials. A report released last week by the UN's emergency aid department, OCHA, outlines an emerging humanitarian situation, with more than two million people in need of assistance due to recent fighting between federal government forces and troops loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Overall access to the region and communications have been constrained by the central government, making first-hand assessments difficult. Speaking in Geneva on 6 January, at an online briefing hosted by…

Jul

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s slave descendants hope race protests help end discrimination

HUMAN RIGHTS

ADAOBI TRICIA NWAUBANI WHEN Barack Obama was elected the first Black U.S. president in 2008, Anthony Uzoije noticed less contempt towards descendants of slaves like him in his south-eastern Nigeria community. Uzoije, from Ogbaru in Anambra state, now hopes Black Lives Matter protests globally will inspire similar change for him and the Igbo people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa and principal group enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It is estimated that between 10 and 20% of Igbos - amounting to many millions of people - are descendants of slaves and still face significant discrimination, which has…

Jul

02

2020

By The African Mirror

S. African activists hail ruling to protect poor residents from police raids

HUMAN RIGHTS

KIM HARRISBERG SOUTH African campaigners have welcomed a court ruling that will make it harder for police to raid poor city dwellers' homes, following recent protests over operations to enforce the coronavirus lockdown. The Johannesburg High Court ruling, which effectively bans police from raiding homes without a warrant, came after a series of often-violent raids on "hijacked buildings" - properties illegally seized by rogue landlords and rented to low-income tenants. "This is a major step in the right direction in making sure that all are equal before law, not just those living in affluent suburbs," said Khululiwe Bhengu from the…