Africa needs Gambia’s leadership on human rights

Tafi Mhaka On November 11, The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention. The landmark action will bring the first legal scrutiny of Myanmar’s campaign of murder, rape, arson, and other atrocities against Rohingya Muslims. “It’s a shame for our generation that we do nothing while genocide is unfolding right under our own eyes,” The Gambia’s Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou said at a news conference held at The Hague. By filing the case, the small West African nation opened up a crucial human rights frontier and displayed Africa’s largely undeveloped potential to play a leading role in promoting human rights on a global scale. To this end, The Gambia’s Vice President Isatou Touray described the country as “a small country with a big voice on matters of human rights on the continent and beyond”. It is a far cry from the often disappointing, perplexing and idle standpoint some African states have in the past adopted against human rights abuses around the world. With any luck, The Gambia’s robust and resourceful leadership will not be restricted to only backing Myanmar’s Rohingya population. Similarly, unequivocal interventions are sorely required to help regulate Africa’s floundering democracies and support a plethora of human rights concerns. The African Union (AU) and individual African countries, particularly Africa’s major powers, have generally failed to help inspire or establish a systematic commitment to defending human rights on the continent, despite vowing to “promote democratic institutions, good governance and human rights”. For the most part, according to Amnesty International, AU member states are refusing to cooperate with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), the African Child Rights Committee, and the African Court; and “Africa’s human rights bodies are being wilfully subverted” at a most difficult time. Despite Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali winning the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and despite President Paul Kagame receiving widespread praise for rebuilding Rwanda, Africa is buckling under a growing, powerful, regressive strain of oppressive and murderous leadership. In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni’s administration has clamped down on journalists, student protests, harassed opposition leader Kizza Besigye and labelled popular singer-tuned-politician Bobi Wine an “enemy of the country’s prosperity”, all this amid shadowy plans to introduce the death penalty for gay sex. In Tunisia, bloggers have been charged and arrested over social media posts under laws that criminalise freedom of speech. In Tanzania, President John Magufuli’s government stands accused of suppressing media rights, human rights and democracy. Impunity, violence and widespread intolerance for divergent political views, coupled with debilitating inaction and insufficient protections for citizen’s rights, have become a norm for AU member states. In the obvious absence of strong leadership, The Gambia’s firm resolve to promote human rights and, by extension, democracy must evolve into a loud and persevering voice for progressive development in Africa. The country can help to hold wayward administrations accountable for severe transgressions by introducing purportedly taboo topics at continental gatherings, —The article first appeared on aljazeera.com

Africa needs Gambia’s leadership on human rights

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Africa needs Gambia’s leadership on human rights

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