The CODESRIA Policy Dialogue Series has been designed as a means of addressing the main challenges facing the African continent. Africa: Reaffirming our Commitment is designed to examine the economic foundations of our states and the question of the dignity of Africans as human beings. We are operating under a ferocious globalisation where the rules of engagement are based on economic and military supremacy, fields in which Africa still lags behind. The objective of this book is not to lament or finger-point those who caused Africa’s ills, but rather to think of means and propose strategies that can be used to free ourselves from poverty and oppression, and most importantly, identify the main drivers that could accelerate Africa’s development. This publication proffers ways by which our economy and our governments can be put at the service of all Africans. It proposes ways towards the establishment of pacific, harmonious, just and equitable societies in an Africa where local and pan-African citizenship will be a reality. It also advocates the establishment of collective identities and inclusive societies informed by a redefined vision of our future generated through a new education and mode of socialisation through schools and other national institutions.
It has often been argued that the concept of human rights is an artefact of modern Western civilisation, that human rights in the South are privileges conferred. These approaches have taken little cognisance of the place accorded to the societal rights held in such esteem as complementary to individual rights in traditional African society. In contrast, this study argues that human rights in Africa are as much about the dignity of Africans as about the commitments of others towards them. It argues for a critical defence of universal human rights within a multicultural framework. From historical perspectives, it illustrates how the slave trade, and then colonialism undermined the traditional balance of individual and societal rights.
The work further traces the rise and fall and rise again of the human rights agenda in the post-independence period. It discusses the achievements of the African Commission and the African Union, and suggests ways of strengthening the human rights framework on the continent. The book came out of a conference that took place in Uppsala, Sweden in 2004 involving practitioners, scholars and activists in the field of human tights in Africa.
Lennart Wohlgemuth, Ebrima Sall
The other contributors include Hassan Bubcar Jallow, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Jibrin Ibrahim, Frans Viljoen and Ibrahima Kane.
ISBN : 2-86978-192-x
CODESRIA 2006