• General
  • Trading
  • Science & Technology
  • Fashion
  • Health & Safety
  • Games
  • Key Issues
  • Legal & Judicial
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Submit News
  • Sitemap
Nepal News Gazette
Menu
  • General
  • Trading
  • Science & Technology
  • Fashion
  • Health & Safety
  • Games
  • Key Issues
  • Legal & Judicial
 › Trading › HRW: Don’t Let Global Rights Decline Obscure Abuses in Africa

HRW: Don’t Let Global Rights Decline Obscure Abuses in Africa

nepalnewsgazette.com January 18, 2018     Comment Closed     Trading

Africa doesn't take top billing in this year's roundup of global human rights concerns. That dubious honor goes to the dangerous trend of intolerance and populist leadership in the United States, Russia and China, which Human Rights Watch says are setting a poor example for the rest of the world.

But, says the organization's deputy program director, Babatunde Olugboji, that doesn't mean the respected rights watchdog is taking their eye off Africa even as they air their concerns about aggressive, anti-immigrant talk coming from traditional power centers.

We need to be concerned because human rights... we need to sort of look at it it at the individual level, Olugboji told VOA in Johannesburg, where the report was launched.

Women who have been raped, people who have been killed, people who have been arrested, people who have been detained, they're not going to be thinking of nuclear war in Korea or in Hawaii or anywhere. They're going to be thinking of, 'my government has the responsibility to respect my rights, my government has the responsibility to ensure that I enjoy these rights,' he said.

Clampdowns and bright spots

In many ways, said Olugboji and his colleagues, African nations have failed.

They described concerns in West Africa about armed groups like Boko Haram, crackdowns on the the English-speaking minority in Cameroon, and continuing unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has repeatedly postponed elections and reacted harshly to political protests.

In East Africa, they noted clampdowns on dissent in Ethiopia and in Tanzania, and concerns about election-related violence in Kenya and continuing violence ahead of South Sudan's increasingly unlikely elections.

But researchers also noted bright spots in Gambia and in Angola, where longtime leaders finally stepped aside and freedoms are slowly, possibly growing.

Angola researcher Zenaida Machado says that while things appear to be going well since the retirement of longtime leader Jose Eduardo Dos Santos in September, it's too soon to call the Southern African nation a success. After all, she said, most of the year was still characterized by his increasingly repressive leadership and his high-profile family's.

It was an exciting period for Angola, it's been, since September, but it's also important not to forget that the year was still there from January until September 2017, when changes began to be implemented, or begun to be seen, she said. The majority of 2017 wasn't a good year for Angola.

Olugboji said that he is reserving judgment about Zimbabwe, where the military forced President Robert Mugabe to resign in November after 37 years in power. He has been replaced by his longtime deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Not much has changed in Zimbabwe, he said. There was this euphoria about Mugabe being pushed out, but when the dust settled it became clear that these people that have been there forever... Nothing has changed -- there are restrictive laws on the books, there are issues around freedom of expression, the press is not free, people cannot protest."

African governments, he said, may feel the heat is off them because of the world's bigger, louder, more controversial leaders. But that, he said, would be a mistake: Human Rights Watch is always watching.

Source: Voice of America

Trading

 Previous Post

VOA Interview: UN Ambassador Nikki Haley: Full Transcript

― January 17, 2018

Next Post 

WFP Warns Food Shortages in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

― January 21, 2018

Author: nepalnewsgazette.com

Related Articles

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 15, 2021 | Comment Closed

HIDCL makes investment loans of Rs 10.8 billion in 13 hydropower projects

Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Limited (HIDCL) has made investment loans of Rs 10.88 billion in 13 hydropower projects with a total capacity of generating 476 megawatts power.Of the project in which the HIDCL has invested, the tota...

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 15, 2021 | Comment Closed

HIDCL makes investment loans of Rs 10.8 billion in 13 hydropower projects

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 14, 2021 | Comment Closed

Three homestays to receive grant of Rs 2.4 million

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 11, 2021 | Comment Closed

Govt ready to resolve cooperatives’ problems: Finance Minister

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 11, 2021 | Comment Closed

Private sector cautious about FDI in agriculture sector

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 11, 2021 | Comment Closed

Salyan supplies agro products worth Rs 220 million in four months

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 11, 2021 | Comment Closed

Citizen Bank sealed off in Humla; preparation on to airlift infected staff to outside hospital

nepalnewsgazette.com ― January 10, 2021 | Comment Closed

Current government is government of stability: PM Oli

Advertisement

Search News

Categories

Monthly Archive

Calendar

January 2021
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

Key Issues

Nepal wishes to resolve border issues through dialogue

― January 15, 2021

Nepal wishes to resolve border issues through dialogue

― January 15, 2021

Elections not the sole troubleshooter, former PM Dr Bhattarai says

― January 15, 2021

Dissolution of HoR against letter, spirit of Constitution: Chair Nepal

― January 14, 2021

Human Rights

Government committed to save citizen’s life: Minister Shrestha

― January 15, 2021

Hearing on writs against HoR dissolution to take place in constitutional bench

― January 15, 2021

Infrastructure development works to continue even if election

― January 14, 2021

Man sets own house on fire, killing two sons

― January 13, 2021

Three arrested with brown sugar

― January 13, 2021

Advertisement

As this website is one of the renowned online
news websites of the country, it has the status to determine the path to follow for both local and regional news industries.

Follow Us


Browse By Pages

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Submit News
  • Sitemap

Categories

  • General
  • Trading
  • Science & Technology
  • Fashion
  • Health & Safety
  • Games
  • Key Issues
  • Legal & Judicial
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Submit News
  • Sitemap
© Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved. Nepal News Gazette