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SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The African Union and the challenges of implementing the “responsibility to protect”

Upphovsperson: Kuwali, Daniel
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: United Nations, African Union, Regional security, African organizations, Regional cooperation, International relations, Foreign intervention, Dispute settlement, Peacekeeping, Defence policy, Crime prevention, Human rights, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
The concept of the “responsibility to protect” (“R2P”) was endorsed by the world’s leaders sitting at the 2005 World Summit level in the UN General Assembly. The World Summit Outcome Document affirmed that every sovereign government has a responsibility to protect its citizens and those within its jurisdiction from genocide, war crimes, “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity (UN 2005 paras. 138–139). The concept of R2P is cast in the three core pillars: first, an affirmation of the primary and continuing obligation of individual states to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, as well as incitement thereof; second, a commitment by the international community to assist states in meeting these obligations; and third, acceptance by UN member states of their responsibility to respond in a timely and decisive manner through the UN Security Council, if national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations from these mass atrocity crimes. R2P is a restatement of positive binding obligations of states to protect their citizens from mass atrocity crimes; and the collective responsibility to the international community to prevent mass atrocity crimes. R2P is about taking effective action at the earliest possible stage (Evans 2008). These obligations are particularly relevant to Africa in the face of crises such as those in Sudan (Darfur), parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Somalia. It is, however, rather early to pass definitive judgement on the relatively young notion of R2P without addressing some of the challenges confronting its implementation in Africa.

Sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeeping operations in contemporary Africa

Upphovspersoner: Rudén, Fanny | Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: Africa, United Nations, Peacekeeping, Peace corps, minitary personnel, Hiv, Social implications, sexual abuse, Human rights violations, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
In international peacekeeping operations (PKOs) some individuals are involved in sexual exploitation and abuse of the host country’s population, buying of sexual services and trafficking of prostitutes. Far from being a new phenomenon it goes back a long time, and reports on the issue have increased over the years. All too frequently we read about peacekeepers visiting prostitutes, committing rape, or in other ways sexually exploiting host populations. Some peacekeepers are taking advantage of the power their work gives them, and becoming abusers rather than protectors in situations where the host population is powerless and in dire need of protection. Peacekeepers’ abuse of their mandate is inflicting severe damage on host societies and often results in a number of unintended consequences such as human rights violations, rapid spread of HIV, decreased trust in the UN as well as other international aid agencies, and harmful changes to gender patterns. Women and children, both girls and boys, are especially exposed. Having already suffered from war and instability they risk becoming even more physically and mentally wounded. Peacekeeping operations risk doing more harm than good in African war zones, and if they cannot learn from previous mistakes maybe they ought to stay at home. We do not argue for the latter; rather, we point towards the urgent need to change explicit and implicit patterns and habits in international peacekeeping operations in relation to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in Africa. In this Policy Note we focus predominantly on military staff, but acknowledge that the civilian staff of PKOs, and international aid workers, are also implicated. On the other hand it should initially be pointed out that most PKO staff are not sexual exploiters and abusers.

Labour migration : a child and youth issue

Upphovsperson: Thorsen, Dorte
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2008
Ämnesord: Labour migration, labour market, youth unemployment, child labour, Rural-urban migration, access to education, educational opportunities, Africa, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Considerable policy effort has been made to eliminate child labour and is currently being directed towards job-creation for youth. Most programmatic solutions are premised on education being a key component of childhood and education deficits a major impediment to youth employment. Long-term difficulties of finding work at the end of schooling or vocational training are addressed only as ill-suited curricula and economic barriers preventing youth’s entrepreneurship. Children’s work (below 18 years) is contentious per se, whilst youth’s labour migration receive no attention in the most recent Swedish and Danish Africa strategies.By bringing together policy discussions on child labour and your unemployment – usually separated and dealt with by different organisations – this Policy Notes highlights a series of questions for consideration in contextualised policy-making. It argues that- The strong focus on formal education makes working children and the skills they learn outside school invisible.- The focus on technical/vocational training as a means to bring youth into work ignores rural-urban inequalities, as well as how African labour markets work.

Migration in sub-Saharan Africa

Upphovsperson: Adepoju, Aderanti
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2008
Ämnesord: International migration, Emigration, economic aspects, Migration policy, Development research, International cooperation, Brain drain, diaspora, Human trafficking, Africa South of Sahara, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Africans arriving by rickety fishing boats to the Canary Islands, risking the passage across the Straits of Gibraltar or washed upon the Italian island of Lampedusa are familiar examples of therecent growth in migration from Africa to Europe. There is a darkside of migration in human trafficking, but the picture of a continenton the move also includes highly skilled professionals fromNigeria and Ghana who seek employment in universities and otherprofessions in South Africa. On the positive side migrant remittancesare a major source of income in many sub-Saharan Africancountries, helping to sustain the lives of poor home communities.A major challenge now facing sub-Saharan Africa is how to attractskilled emigrants back for national development.

Young women in African wars

Upphovspersoner: Coulter, Chris | Persson, Mariam | Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: War, conflicts, youth, Women’s participation, Women’s role, Social conditions, Government programmes, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Young women are combatants in contemporary African wars. They also participate in a whole array of different roles. However, by and large, they remain invisible to us. In fact, our “northern” hackneyed views on women’s innate non-participation in war prevent us from seeing specific needs for young women during and in the aftermath of wars. For instance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes often fail to address appropriate needs for young women and in a variety of ways “prevent” them from partaking. Issues of stigma, safe demobilisation, individual concerns for post-war marriage, health and education, need to be addresed in both a more gendered way, but also with an apposite understanding of young women’s agency in both peace and war. In this Policy note it is argued that to improve policy and programming efforts it is necessary to broaden the understanding of young women’s roles and participation in armed conflict in Africa historically and today.

China, India, Russia and the United States : The Scramble for African Oil and the Militarization of the Continent

Upphovsperson: Volman, Daniel
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: petroleum resources, Natural resources, Geopolitics, Economic and social development, International relations, Foreign policy, Militarism, Africa, India, China, Russian federation, United states, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Since the end of the Cold War, Africa’s status in the internationalgeopolitical order has risen dramatically. The continent was once treated as a convenient battlefield in the global rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now, the continent’s increasing importance as a source of energy supplies and other raw materials, has radically altered the picture. This has led to the growing economic and military involvement of China, India, and other emerging industrial powers in Africa and to the re-emergence of Russia as an economic and military power on the continent. In response the United States has dramatically increased its military presence in Africa and created a new military command – the Africa Command or Africom – to protect what it has defined as its “strategic national interests” in Africa. This has ignited what has come to be known as the “new scramble for Africa” and is transforming the security architecture of Africa.

Soil erosion and reservoir sedimentation in Lesotho

Upphovsperson: Chakela, Qalabane K.
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1981
Ämnesord: Tanzania, East Africa, Soil erosion, Sedimentation, Environment, Ecology, Population, Land use, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Soil erosion and water deficiency are some of the most serious problems in many developing countries including Lesotho. In Lesotho the problem of soil erosion by water and to a less degree by wind has become so serious that large parts of the country are rapidly loosing productivity due to loss of soil fertility by sheet erosion on cultivated lands; loss of arable and range lands through gully erosion and overgrazing; loss of water supply sources through gullies and runoff following erosion, lowering of groundwater levels through gullies and pipes, and sedimentation in rivers and reservoirs. In these studies the rates, types and extent of the different erosions processes are investigated in eleven small watersheds within the lowlands and foothills regions of Lesotho.

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