Protecting Human Security In Africa

Protecting Human Security in Africa discusses some of the most potent threats to human security in Africa. It deals especially with those threats to the security of African people which are least understood or explored. In themes varying from corruption, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, food security, the devastation of internal displacement in Africa, the link between natural resources and human security, to the problems of forced labour, threats to women's security, and environmental security, the book examines the legal and policy challenges of protecting human security in Africa. This work also analyses the role of NGOs and the civil society in advocating human security issues in Africa. It considers the role of regional human rights mechanisms and judicial bodies, such as the African Commission for Human Rights and the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights, in seeking to guarantee human security in Africa. Finally, with particular reference to the Somalia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Darfur crises, the book studies the role of African regional organizations, especially the African Union, in protecting the human security of Africans. Written by leading experts on its various themes, this is an indispensable book for all those seeking to learn more about the real challenges facing Africans and African organizations.

In Africa, various conditions pose pervasive threats to human security. Addressing these threats and promoting human security therefore constitute formidable challenges. As the paradigmatic shift in the discourse on and practice of human security has led to a change in the normative emphasis from sovereignty and non-intervention to responsibility and international humanitarian and human rights norms, questions arise not only as to the relationship between human security and human rights but also as to the contribution of the human rights system in addressing human security threats and promoting human freedom. What tools does the African human rights system have at its disposal that can be used in the promotion of human security on the continent? What are the roles of the African Commission and the AHRC in this regard? What are the potentials and the challenges? How best can these human rights bodies be employed to optimise their contributions to addressing the pervasive human security threats and to promoting the well-being of individuals and communities on the continent? This monograph investigates these and similar issues, including the basic one of the interface between human rights and human security.

Eleven contributions explore security from a human rather than a state perspective and illustrate this by drawing on case material from sub-Saharan Africa. They offer an alternative to the realist, state centered, militaristic, male-dominated terrain of orthodox security and strategic studies, and study such issues as feminist perspectives, justice, economic genocide in Rwanda, security in the new world order, and the erosion of the state and the decline of race. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Written by leading authorities from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America, this groundbreaking volume offers the first truly global and critical perspective on human security in the post 9/11 world. The collection offers unique interpretations on mainstream discourses on human security.

Africas dynamic security environment is characterized by great diversityfrom conventional challenges such as insurgencies, resource and identity conflicts, and post-conflict stabilization to growing threats from piracy, narcotics trafficking, violent extremism, and organized crime taking root in urban slums, among others. This precarious environment jeopardizes security at the societal, community and individual levels. In a globalized and interconnected world, millions of people worldwide are affected by some form of human insecurity. Infectious and parasitic diseases annually kill millions. Internally displaced persons number millions, including 5 million in Sudan alone. In Zambia 1 million people in a population of 11 million are reported to be HIV-positive, a situation much worse in other countries. Potable water crisis looms almost everywhere. In this book Tatah Mentan points out the need to shift the focus away from a state-centric and military-strategic emphasis on security to an interdisciplinary and people-centric approach that embraces notions like global citizenship, empowerment and participation. The primary elements of economic, food, health, environment, personal, community and political security all comprise the broader understanding of human security in an intricately interconnected world.

This book shows the push and pull effects between resources, human security and conflicts in Africa. It recognizes the need for resources in Africa to be processed into finished goods in order to influence global market and redefine the pattern of trade relations with powerful countries of Asia, America and Europe in shaping the destiny and future of African countries. The achievement of this laudable objective is plagued by the security challenges which are directly or indirectly linked to resource-related conflicts rocking most of the resource endowed countries in the continent, thereby threatening global peace and security. To deal with this menace in the continent, it requires global co-operation and support of foreign governments, international organizations, international non-government organizations, governments of host countries and its citizens. The book presents the cases and experiences of countries that are endowed with resource, as well as have experienced different forms of human insecurity and have witnessed environmental conflicts in its analysis, which make the discourse interesting and quite educating.

This book investigates contemporary human security issues in East Africa, setting forth policy recommendations and a research agenda for future studies. Human security takes a people-centered rather than state-centered approach to security issues, focusing on whether people feel safe, free from fear, want, and indignity. This book investigates human security in East Africa, encompassing issues as diverse as migration, housing, climate change, displacement, food security, aflatoxins, land rights, and peace and conflict resolution. In particular, the book showcases innovative original research from African scholars based on the continent and abroad, and together the contributors provide policy recommendations and set forth a human security research agenda for East Africa, which encompasses Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. As well as being useful for policy makers and practitioners, this book will interest researchers across African Studies, Security Studies, Environmental Studies, Political Science, Global Governance, International Relations, and Human Geography. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license