Choosing freedom is not as we are told choosing against justice,
On the other hand, freedom is chosen today in relation to those who are everywhere
suffering and fighting, and this is the only freedom that counts.
It is chosen at the same time as justice and to tell the truth,
henceforth we cannot choose one without the other.
If someone takes away your bread, he suppresses your freedom at the same time.
But if someone takes away your freedom, you may be sure that your bread is threatened,
For it depends no longer on you or your struggle,
But on the whim of a master.
Albert Camus
Following a long journey and years of struggle, the people of South Africa, successfully broke from the shackles of apartheid and made the transition to democracy. On 14 July 1999, a successful second democratic election brought Thabo Mbeki to the Presidency. Between December 1998 and February 1999, Nigerians went to the polls to exercise their democratic right and expressed support for a return to a civilian government. Olusegun Obasanjo, President elect since 29 May 1999, has in a short span of time demonstrated much courage and leadership. Removing from office over 150 military officers, he has also ordered a review of all contracts that the predecessor military junta signed during the last year of its rule and set up an inquiry into human rights abuses. South Africans and Nigerians have chosen to walk the high road to democracy. Their experiences serve as a model and provide hope to many Africans living in countries where democracy is stifled and egregious violations of human rights abound.
Since 1970, over thirty wars have been fought in Africa. The unbridled proliferation of conventional weapons plays a significant role in the humanitarian crises that plague many African countries. In 1996, fourteen of the fifty-three countries in Africa were afflicted by armed conflicts, accounting for over half the war-related deaths world-wide. The African continent is home to eight million refugees and displaced persons, primarily women and children living in sub-human conditions. Armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, and Angola are fed by a steady influx of arms which cause incredible human suffering. Children as young as six are deprived of an education and forcibly recruited as child soldiers. The gruesome war machines result in torture, disappearances, rape, maiming and innumerable civilian causalities. Norms of international human rights and humanitarian law are systematically violated with impunity.
Africa, south of the Sahara is home to the largest proportion of the world's poor. To ordinary citizens the benefits and opportunities of globalisation are few, slow to come and remain highly skewed. Their ability to satisfy their fundamental human needs: the right to a decent living standard, access to education, health care, housing, drinking water, a safe and clean environment, diminish by the day. The impact of the fall in both demand and price for basic commodities supplied from Africa, including metals, timber, coffee, oil and cocoa is not without consequence. For many countries that depend on selling raw materials globally to support their domestic budgets, the economic downturn contributes to setbacks, lower currency values, shortfalls in revenue and increases in trade deficits. Private capital flows to Africa are a tiny fraction of global flows. The external debts of some countries exceed their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is not unusual for debt servicing requirements to exceed 25 per cent of their export earnings. The power of global market forces and increased financial and commodity volatility are critical elements that African governments factor into their political calculations.
Globalisation must mean more than opening markets and liberalising trade. African governments left with few choices, bow to the pressure exerted on them by international financial institutions. In the last decade, many governments in Africa have implemented programmes to liberalise financial and trade policies for macro economic adjustment required by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Some of the prominent implementers of economic liberalisation include Benin, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As well, powerful mining companies with headquarters in the North Atlantic world continue to cut deep into the African continent for diamonds, oil and gas or precious metals. Many of these companies display a lack of concern about respect for basic human rights standards of workers and the environment, even though they comply as a simple matter of good business practice in their home countries. Control and exploitation of diamonds, timber and other raw materials was a key objective of the warring factions in Liberia. Likewise, the plunder of natural resources and looting of central bank reserves was the primary motivation of those who seized power from the elected government in May 1997 in Sierra Leone. In Angola, the protracted difficulties in the peace process is related to control over the exploitation of this country's lucrative diamond fields.
The lack of investment in sustainable economic development projects in Africa is far from sufficient in order to address the needs of all citizens. In too many countries the local elite perceive that holding political office is the surest and the fastest way to amass wealth quickly. The stakes rise for the control of government and acquiring political power "at all costs" becomes almost an obsession. Political victory means that the "winner-gets-everything" which ranges from respect and prestige to patronage, from the control over natural resources and immense wealth to impunity. This situation is exacerbated when the State is the major provider of employment and political parties are largely either regionally or ethnically based. African States inherited a framework of laws and institutions designed to exploit local divisions and old animosities, not to overcome them. Ideological divisions between East and West during the Cold War years, placed a high premium on maintaining order and stability among allied States which in turn maintained and boosted the power of dictatorial regimes on the African continent. The remnants of these policies linger on and their disastrous effects are still felt by citizens striving for human rights and human dignity in many countries.
Current assessments of progress towards democracy in Africa are still dominated by and often limited to the sole indicator of holding "multiparty elections". The voter registration process, access of all parties to the electronic and print media, a framework to regulate financing of parties, monitoring vote buying, intimidation, blackmail, fraud and other procedural irregularities are often ignored. Flawed electoral processes designed to ensure victory for incumbents continue to be a profound source of tensions and crises. Setting up institutions to organise regular elections alone is not sufficient. Each State has an important role to play in providing the institutional guarantee for the sustainability of the political consensus arrived at within a society, not to exacerbate ethnic and religious differences or revive old animosities. In an ideal world, every State would have internal laws that prohibit egregious crimes and the judicial instruments in place to allow for the effective prosecution of these crimes. Clearly, in many countries in Africa this is simply not the case. Instead, even when laws do exist, their enforcement is rendered impossible because of either a lack of human resources including trained personnel, weak infrastructure and scarce financial resources, and the lack of political will on the part of the government in power to act.
The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) demonstrates how conflict can be abetted by the repressive political regime of Laurent D. Kabila as well as by opportunistic neighbouring States, and domestic and international private sector players who assist in fuelling the war. Despite their rhetorical statements in support of the peace accord signed in Lusaka in July 1999, their actions assist the belligerents to benefit from the reckless exploitation of rich natural resources, to launder funds and to feed a steady flow of small arms. Through acts of omission and commission they systematically fail to respect internationally recognised human rights standards and carry on their activities with impunity. The participation of civil society organisations in the search for credible solutions for lasting peace is stifled in the DRC as in many war torn countries. These civil society organisations are seen as a threat by some authoritarian regimes who fear international exposure of their negative human rights record. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) monitoring abuses of human rights by their governments and non-state actors are seen as suspect by some African governments. Numerous examples have been documented where laws are enacted by States to control the activities of NGOs and their leaders are subject to harassment, intimidation, death threats, denial of a passport or other travel documents and long prison terms.
The sale and traffic of small arms in Africa has turned into the most lucrative trade as mercenaries move freely within the continent and significant new shipments continue to arrive from outside the continent as well. The public identification of African and international arms merchants and their activities have so far proved elusive. Only eight African countries have provided information to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. Breaking the secrecy that surrounds the flow of illicit arms within and to Africa is an important step in establishing accountability of the perpetrators of human rights abuses. In response to the serious and systematic breaches of human rights and the grotesque cruelty inflicted by armed conflicts and authoritarian regimes on a large number of innocent civilians, Member States of the United Nations and the Security Council should be doing more. In many cases, political consideration and pragmatic concerns take precedence as States remain silent and go about their business as usual. In other cases, their action boils down to a few "diplomatic démarches". In still others, formal pronouncements are made by the United Nations General Assembly or the Commission on Human Rights condemning a country's disregard for the basic international standards on human rights. Selectivity triumphs as States respond to some situations of geopolitical interest and economic importance and not in others.
We may recall that the United Nations operation in Somalia was the first UN initiative to be withdrawn by the Security Council before completion of the mission. The inability of the United Nations to restore peace to Somalia soured support for international intervention in conflict mediation and resolution globally. The memories of the UN operation in Somalia still hobble the international community's capacity to respond decisively to crises in many parts of the world. A direct consequence of this indecision and lack of political will was the failure of the United Nations to intervene in an effective manner to prevent Genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Hopefully, the experience of Rwanda has thought all of us in the world community that adopting a timid, wait and see approach results in our actions being untimely, inapt and inappropriate. Humanitarian action cannot become a substitute for political action. More can and must be done but first political will need to be mobilised . Our joint efforts in the search for peace, sustainable development, human rights, trade, the environment, gender equality in supporting the establishment of democratic institutions and processes must address the root causes of problems and crises on the African continent.
Democratic development takes root and proceeds smoothly when the institutional framework for the implementation of all human rights exists and the capacities of representative organisations within civil society are strengthened in order to promote and protect existing rights. An important benchmark of the development of democracy and respect for human rights in a country, is therefore reflected in the vitality of its civil society. The institutionalisation of norms and practices of democratic governance allows for the creation of effective mechanisms for facilitating interactive relationships between State and civil society organisations . Under these conditions citizens in a State not only have access to the State but they are also equipped to systematically monitor State policies and their implementation. Strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations, the independent media, professional associations of judges and lawyers, parliamentarians and political parties to participate in the policy making process and to influence its outcomes, is a crucial challenge.
Additionally, in order to build and consolidate the institutional architecture for sustainable democracy in Africa, I propose ten benchmarks to guide national, regional and international action. First, we must create spaces and forums of dialogue where State and non-state actors who demonstrate a commitment to non-violence, respect for human rights and the rule of law, can discuss concrete problems and propose solutions. Second, we must strengthen national capacity for the implementation of human rights conventions ratified by States. Third, we must make effective use of National Human Rights Commissions to educate citizens on their rights and to provide victims with recourse. Fourth, we must undertake training programmes to sensitise judicial personnel, the police and military on internationally recognised human rights norms and standards. Fifth, we must ensure that the African Court established under the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) becomes an effective and impartial mechanism of justice and that its decisions contribute to greater accountability and a culture of respect for human rights in the continent.
Sixth, we should encourage lending governments and international financial institutions to immediately cancel all debt of countries in transition to democracy. Seventh, we should advocate for an increase in bilateral and multilateral assistance to States that have demonstrated a commitment to the elimination of poverty. Eight, we must encourage the private sector to invest in African countries in a manner which respects core labour standards, good business ethics and relevant codes of conduct. Ninth, we should promote a range of people to people contacts, linkages and networks among NGOs and civil society organisations within Africa and between Africa and other continents. Tenth, we must ensure that the United Nations is more effectively engaged in Africa through an increased commitment towards multilateralism.
Concretely, multilateral assistance should be directed as a matter of priority to assist African States engaged in dialogue with their respective civil society organisations in tackling the complex issues of constitution building; to bring domestic laws in compliance with international human rights standards and encourage ratification of the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court; to implement their international commitments, to establish national human rights institutions and to promote education and training on human rights; to use diplomatic action and sanction rouge States responsible for gross violations of human rights; to undertake investigative missions, to send mediators and deploy peacekeepers with clear mandates, effectively equipped to deal with the task at hand; and lastly to encourage all States to provide information to the UN Register of Conventional Arms so that the illicit arms traffic to and inside Africa comes under closer international scrutiny.
Canadians have demonstrated on numerous occasions that they care about developments in Africa. They care about innocent civilians victimised by war, poverty and marginalised by the forces of globalisation. Africans are the protagonists of their own solutions. Human rights and democracy are universal ideas which are nurtured and flourish from within each country and a each continent. But above all, they must take root in the heart and the minds of citizens and political leaders. Working cooperatively with Africans engaged in an uphill task of protecting human rights, we must continue to share our expertise and provide political and financial support to their efforts. History has shown that models imposed from the outside are not sustainable over the long term. Civil society organisations and African States are demanding the right to design their own models. Therefore, without imposing our system of Parliamentary democracy and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, our actions must continue to be guided primarily by respect for the principles of universality and indivisibility of human rights as enunciated in the International Bill of Human Rights. Our rich democratic traditions, multiculturalism, values of tolerance, dialogue, mediation, peacekeeping and peace-building must constantly challenge us to play an active role as members of the Commonwealth, the Francophonie, the Security Council and the United Nations system in protecting human rights. The protagonists of peace, human rights, and democracy on the continent of Africa will embrace our support in friendship and solidarity.
* Iris Almeida is Director of Programmes at Rights & Democracy (formerly known as the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) based in Montreal. Created in 1988 by an Act of the Canadian Parliament, Rights & Democracy is an independent institution with a mandate to promote the United Nations International Bill of Rights. Working with civil society organisations and governments in Canada and around the world, it encourages the protection and promotion of human rights and facilitates the building of democratic institutions. Rights & Democracy provides technical, political and financial support to civil society organisations for advocacy, capacity building and public education programmes focussed on democratic development, women's human rights, indigenous peoples' rights and the impact of globalisation on human rights. Ms Almeida was formerly Head of Programmes, Partnership Africa Canada in Ottawa, Assistant Secretary General, Cooperation internationale pour le développement et la solidarité in Brussels; and President of the International Movement of University Students in Paris. A sociologist by training, she specialises in the linkage between sustainable development, human rights and the consolidation of democracy. Over the past 17 years she has worked closely with national, regional and international non-governmental organisations in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
E-mail: ialmeida@ichrdd.ca
Telephone: (514) 283-6073
Fax: (514) 283-3792
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