Human rights are at the centre of development, argues the Human Development Report 2000, published annually since 1990 by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). "Human rights are not, as have sometimes been argued, a reward of development," asserts UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown in his introduction to the study. "Rather they are critical to achieving it." Respect for human rights and sound development policies, he notes, "make up a self-reinforcing virtuous circle."
As it does each year, the report ranks countries according to a "human development index" which combines life expectancy, education and per capita income indices. Out of 174 countries ranked, only two sub-Saharan countries, the Seychelles and Mauritius, were among the top 100. Of the 25 countries with the lowest ratings, 24 are African.
While there have been discussions over the years -- sometimes controversial -- about possible ways of formulating an index related to human rights, the report itself does not attempt to do so. It does note progress in various regions to better institutionalize human rights monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. After adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in 1981, an African Human Rights Commission was formed in 1987 and in 1998 countries agreed to establish an African Human Rights Court, although it has not yet started functioning. Out of 52 countries on the continent, 16 have ratified five of the six major international human rights conventions and another 21 have ratified all six -- which several highly industrialized countries have not yet done.
Two South African state enterprises, the power-generating firm Eskom and transport giant Transnet, plan to invest more than $1 bn in other African countries over the next five years. Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe announced in late May that Eskom expected to invest some $445 mn in West Africa, $86 mn in North and Central Africa, $245 mn in East Africa and $240 mn in Southern Africa. The investments represent a major expansion for the company, which already generates about half of sub-Saharan Africa's electricity.
Transnet's rail division, Spoornet, will actively participate in the leasing of Zambian and Tanzanian railways when bidding for management contracts is opened later this year. The company has begun talks with the Nigerian, Ghanaian and Guinean governments about involvement in their railways.
An international commission investigating the 1994 slaughter of over 800,000 people in Rwanda issued a report on 7 July describing the genocide as "preventable" and condemning the UN Security Council for refusing to intervene. The study, initiated by the Organization of African Unity, denounced France for support of the ethnic Hutu-dominated government responsible for the murders and for aiding the "genocidaires'" escape from Rwanda after their defeat by Tutsi guerrillas. The US was blamed for blocking international intervention: "The US made sure that no such force would ever reach Rwanda even after it was known beyond question" that genocide was occurring.
Speaking to reporters at UN headquarters on 7 July Mr. Stephen Lewis, a panel member and the former Canadian ambassador to the UN, said Rwanda deserves massive assistance, "particularly from those countries which betrayed Rwanda when it needed the world most."
The seven-member commission, chaired by former Botswana President Ketumile Masire (see Africa Recovery, August 1998), also singled out Belgium, the UN Secretariat and the Roman Catholic Church for condemnation. The report, Rwanda: the Preventable Genocide, is available on-line at <www.oau-oua.org>. It follows the 15 December 1999, release of an independent study requested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on the UN's failed response to the killings.
Concern about Africa at Social Summit reviewAfrica has not fared well in promoting social progress over the last five years, according to a UN General Assembly special session held 26-30 June in Geneva to assess and advance the social development agenda. The session marked the follow-up to the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, which included a specific commitment to promote social development in Africa and the least developed countries. Countries participating in the special session agreed that progress so far has been disappointing. They agreed that poor terms of trade, a continued fall-off in official development assistance and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have all played roles in preventing African countries from meeting the goals set in 1995. In addition to setting a global target of 2015 for reducing by half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and endorsing a global employment strategy, the special session urged specific measures that could have ramifications for African development efforts. It agreed that more resources are needed for social development and that there should be improved market access for African exports, including quota- and tariff-free treatment for such goods. It agreed that structural adjustment programmes should not adversely affect social programmes, and that the International Monetary Fund should ensure that programmes designed to address economic crises do not lead to sharp cuts in social spending. An additional $8 bn a year for 15 years would be necessary to achieve universal primary education, the special session found, in effect putting a price tag to the global targets endorsed two months earlier at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal. The session agreed that there should be deeper and improved debt relief for low- and middle-income countries and that in times of financial crisis, a "debt standstill" should be considered. It also urged a "rigorous analysis" of proposals for new and innovative sources of funding, including the suggestion for an international tax on currency transactions, commonly known as the "Tobin tax." The 25 African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS were encouraged to set time-bound targets for reducing infection levels, such as a target of 2005 for reducing the infection rate among young people by 25 per cent. The session also supported efforts to make low-cost medicines available to people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as for medicines for other diseases prevalent in developing countries. -- Daniel Shepard, Geneva |
