Digital Commons Network^™

'Sira': Community-Driven African Filmmaking To Address Harmful Practices, Ousman Jarju, Jama Jack

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This workshop will explore the use of film to raise awareness about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The workshop will begin by screening the film SIRA, which tells the story of a young girl who resists FGM and mobilizes her community to end the practice. SIRA is a film on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that was produced by RebelVZN and STS Pictures, with support from UNFPA The Gambia. Following the screening, we will explore the first-hand experiences of young African filmmakers who are telling stories that depict the African narrative from a more nuanced angle, balancing the positive with the harmful …

The Public Good In South African Education: The Lifeblood Of Democracy, Pagiel Joshua Chetty

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper investigates how the concept of education as a public good in South Africa has been affected by privatisation since 1994. This study locates itself within a human rights framework, which is premised upon South Africa’s (seemingly progressive) Constitution of 1996 and seeks to investigate the potential shift of education as a public good (that truly benefits the public) towards a more market-based and neoliberal approach to education provision. In this regard, I analyse the annual South African education budget vote speeches presented in the South African Parliament by successive post-apartheid Ministers of Education from 1994 to 2021. As …

Unity As Resistance To The Unreliable Narrator, Jairus Hallums

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

According to the 2017-2018 National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80% of American public elementary and secondary school educators are White, leaving Black, Hispanic, Native American (and Indigenous) and bi-racial educators to make up the remaining 20%. Additionally, according to the United States Census bureau, the racial makeup of the United States is expected to become more diverse, particularly in the Black and Latinx racial groups (Vespa, et al., 2020). Knowing the American P-12 public education system educates the majority of the United States’ children, several questions arise as to the capacity of educators to “do no harm” to Black …

Protecting Women Migrant Workers’ Rights In South Africa: The Need For A Gender-Responsive Framework, Annah Kahari

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Whilst feminisation of migration plays a great role in enhancing the agency of women and improving their socio-economic status it exposes women migrants, to potential risks. Upon arrival in South Africa, women migrant workers suffer multiple layers of discrimination. Important to note is that women's migration pathways and experiences are distinct from those of men and predominantly involve greater exposure to multiple risks. Women migrants are at greater risk of exploitation and abuse, including trafficking, with a greater likelihood to work in less regulated and less visible sectors than men. Using an intersectionality approach, the paper examines the interconnectedness of …

Building Antiracist Communities Of Practice That Result In Transformative Learning Spaces: A Social Education Project, Aaliyah Baker, Marisol Morales

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In killing rage: Ending Racism (1995), bell hooks talks about her writing of this work as being “fundamentally optimistic”, as ‘courageously and fiercely critical”, and as “forging a politics of solidarity”. The creation and evolution of a cross-institutional anti-racism community of practice was drawn to that path. In this workshop, we demonstrate how creating antiracist spaces and connecting with others allow us to explore the role of racism in our lives, our institutions, and our nation. We aim to build the capacity to support a commitment to racial justice in community-engaged work by naming anti-black racism as a human rights …

Activism In The Popular Imagination, Arthur J. Jipson, Paul J. Becker

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This panel presentation will explore new forms of engagement and activism that have emerged with community transformation through social media, music, performance, and the presentation of self and identity. These changes in visual and musical landscapes have created exciting opportunities to disrupt systems and cultures of domination and oppression. This session will explore how area activists, citizens, and artists have used popular culture to interrogate and respond to anti-democratic and anti-representative initiatives in Ohio. By exploring actual music of Dayton-based artists, performance at inclusive music events (for example, For Dayton By Dayton), artwork, and social protest in Ohio, the conversation …

Navigating The Frontiers Of Ai Policies In Africa, Thompson Kwarkye

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Taunted as a ‘game changer,’ Artificial Intelligence (AI) is enhancing human capabilities in delivering innovative solutions that benefit human existence. However, most of the countries that host technologies are in the Global North, meaning that in the last decade, they have been able to dominate AI technology and reaped the associated benefits. For Africans everywhere, the domination of countries outside the region raises two essential issues. First, many African countries are still debating about what approach(es) could encapsulate AI benefits and minimise potential risks. Second, much thought in the current debates is being given to the extent to which AI …

Silenced Echoes: Unraveling Digital Authoritarianism's Grip On Zimbabwe's Civic Space And The Battle For Freedom Of Expression, Kudzai Chimhangwa

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This study builds on years of research by Global Voices on the intersection between authoritarianism, lawfare and digital technologies. The central thesis holds that it is not that Zimbabwe is incapable of being democratic but rather, owing to political expediency, has chosen not to be, creating a hostile environment for digital and human rights instead. Systematic looting and mortgaging of mineral resources to countries like China and Russia over decades have created a haven for institutionalized corruption and more importantly, a culture of impunity, intolerance for dissenting voices and disregard for free and fair electoral processes. Digital authoritarianism manifests itself …

Toward Decolonizing Legal Theories Of Law And Technology, Olubukola Olugasa

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The necessity of technology for the preservation of sustainable human existence is no longer in doubt. The challenges of climate change owing to the teeming world population against the constantly shrinking resources further justify the necessity for new paradigm of conducting human activities through technology. Good and attractive as the technological-driven new world may be, it has become another platform for the re-invention of colonisation. What used to be the scramble and partitioning of the developing worlds in physical time and space has metamorphosed into a new dimension of scramble and partitioning of the same victims upon borderless globalisation and …

Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, And The Colonialization Of Data: Implications For The Rhetoric Of Human Rights, Adam Todd

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technology with profound implications for law, its practice, and our definitions of legal rights. This presentation examines how generative AI, particularly through its use of large language models like ChatGPT, may affect the social practice of human rights.

AI language models are computer programs that are trained by reading billions of pages of materials available through the internet and, through brute processing, is able to provide information about the relationships between the language derived from this raw, language-based data. Through this process, the program can provide users with valuable written information with summaries, analyses, …

Leveraging The Power Of The Internet To Enhance Development And Overcome Poverty In Africa, Bernard Ngalim

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper explores the internet’s transformative potential in combating poverty in Africa and enhancing development by enabling the exchange of goods and services. The paper aims to demonstrate how new technologies empower individuals, entrepreneurs, and communities to surpass historical limitations and drive economic growth within and beyond the continent. The study focuses on a few key areas. First, it examines the impact of enhanced digital connectivity and access on economic opportunities and poverty reduction in Africa, including initiatives to promote digital literacy. Second, it investigates e-commerce platforms' growth and capacity to connect African entrepreneurs and businesses with regional and global …

African Feminist Theories And The Gendered Dimensions Of Climate Change In Africa, Manase Chiweshe

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper analyses how African feminist theories can provide nuanced insights into the gendered dimensions of climate change across the continent. African feminist theories provide important insights into the everyday lived experiences of women within African spaces, allowing for a contextual analysis of the impacts of climate change. There has also been a growing recognition of the need to identify gender-differentiated impacts of climate change (Tuana 2013). The main argument is not only that climate change will be experienced by men and women differently but also that women will be more severely hurt by the impacts than men (MacGregor 2010). …

Settler (International) Law And Displaced Transnational Indigenous (African) Peoples In Canada: Presumed Equal But Obviously Separate, Veronica Fynn Bruey

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Documenting and validating Indigenous Peoples collective experiences with colonial violence, land dispossession, forced displacement, systemic racism, and ongoing exclusion from the nation-building process is fundamental to the idealised Westphalian state such as Canada’s constitutional monarchy. The United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 make no mention of Indigenous Peoples prosecuted and forcibly displaced by slavery, systemic colonial violence, or neoliberal capitalism (vis-à-vis globalisation). Although the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), 2007 does not define an Indigenous person it stipulates their right to belong and determine their own identity. In Canada, indigeneity is …

Perceptions Of Young African Scholars’ Migration From Africa To The Global North: A Case Of Selected Kenyan Universities, Anne David, Enock Magack Masaki

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

As the old adage says, ‘East or West Home is best’, that may not be so true for the young African adult. Despite Africa being a very rich continent in its culture as well as physical resources and beautiful weather to a large extent, most of the African youth who live in Africa always dream of a life abroad. So much so that the thought of migrating to the West, either the United States of America or Europe seems to offer the once in a life time solution to all their problems. This is so real that many risk death …

Is Colonialism Episodal Or An Epoch? Understanding Africa’S Retrogressing Progression, Henrietta Oshokunofa

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

After the end of colonialism in Africa, there have been concerted efforts to decolonise Africa by mopping out the vestiges of exploitation, divide-and-rule system, oppression, and dehumanization, among others that characterised the period. Following its succession of an era that witnessed the mass migration of African descent from Africa to the Americas, colonialism was nothing short of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade save for the natural resources exploitation that differentiated it. With post-colonialism being around for almost as long as colonialism, it is yet to demonstrate any significant development in the different sectors of their societies despite gaining independence peacefully through …

Exploring Gender Budgeting To Accelerate The Realisation Of Women’S Rights In Nigeria, Eno Ekpo

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The proliferation of gender budgeting initiatives globally has yielded a progressive understanding of the distributive impacts of responsive gender budgeting to ensure that both women and men benefit equally from public resources for inclusive development. The incorporation of providing resources in international human rights frameworks recognises the relevance of resources to drive development policies and programmes aimed at rectifying gender imbalances that disproportionately affect women and mandates the adoption of gender budgeting as a necessary step by states to translate their commitments to realising women’s rights at domestic levels. The Maputo Protocol, a pioneering African human rights instrument with extensive …

Who Am I? A Qualitative Study Exploring Identities And Sense Of Belonging Of Black Migrant Women In South Africa, Eleana Velentza

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Post-apartheid South Africa experienced a massive migration flow of African migrant women due to the accommodative Constitution of the Republic of South Africa that was promulgated in 1996. Diversity, multiculturalism, and ethnic and social heterogeneity have been some of the features and challenges of modern South Africa blending national and non-national elements. Nevertheless, black migrant women experience significant levels of xenophobia and multiple layers of discrimination because of “being a woman”, “being Black” and “being a migrant”. The perennial problem of xenophobia in South Africa towards Black Africans is complex and multifaceted; the institutional side of xenophobia circumvents other explanations …

Unraveling The Complexities Of The Coloniality Thought In Africa’S Post-Colonial Identity, Christophe Dongmo, Christophe Dongmo

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In African history, modernity has endowed whiteness with ontological density far above blackness as identities. Since modern Western thinking is controversial, colonialty operates through radical lines that divide social reality into two realms, the realm of "this side of the line" and the realm of "the other side of the line.” For some, there are doubts about African’s ignorance, knowledge, and power. At the outset, the so-called age of reason, or enlightenment, as commonly referred in the West, coincided with slavery, slave trade, and colonisation.

The starting hypothesis for the inquiry is that decoloniality seeks to unmask, unveil, and reveal …

Sarah Bartman And Demystifying African Women History: Feminist Engagement And New Epistemologies From Africa, Babere Kerata Chacha

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

I was recently awarded a Sarah Bartman fellowhip by the University of Cape Town and in my inaugural lecture, I posed a critical question. How should we commemorate Sarah Bartmann legacy in history and culture in contemporary Africa? It is important to make our students to understand the history of sexism and oppression and the many barriers and biases that women have historically faced. Historical interpretation of, or representations of women as victims, projecting victimhood onto meta-historical narratives allows for imagining the trajectories of communities along a ‘zigzag’ historical timeline, wherein the present is portrayed as a juncture similar to …

Unequal Impact: Climate Change And The Rights Of Women And Minority Groups In Africa, Michael Addaney, Yvonne Claire Dumenu, Victor Kwadwo Boseah

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The 2021 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change observed that “vulnerability of ecosystems and people to climate change differs substantially among and within regions […], driven by patterns of intersecting socio-economic development, unsustainable ocean and land use, inequity, marginalization, historical and ongoing patterns of inequity such as colonialism, and governance.” The uneven distribution of climate change impacts is influenced by historical and spatial injustice stemming from systemic discrimination, inequality and marginalization, imperialism, slavery, and colonialism. Sudden and slow onset climate impacts such as rising temperatures and sea levels, increased flooding and drought, ocean acidification, as well as the …

Actionable Gender Mainstreaming: A Framework For Women’S Inclusion In Development Projects In Fragile And Conflict-Affected States, Susan Weaver

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Identified as "key enablers" of development by the 2015 UN Women led “Global Review” on implementation of UNSCR 1325, the World Bank is uniquely poised to support the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda due to its focus on women’s inclusion and needs by mainstreaming gender in development projects. Due to limited investigation on how Bank financing promotes UNSCR 1325, this paper works to untangle if and how projects in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) are gender mainstreamed (GM). By, analyzing Bank mainstreaming activity in project documentation of sixteen Sub-Saharan African countries from 1990-2014 via textual analysis and quantitative modeling, …

Phenotype, Scientific Racism And Colonialism: The Reintroduction Of Colonial Categories Of Race In Tribunal Proceedings Within Brazil, Ann-Marie Debrah Miss

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The abstract uploaded considers the implementation model of affirmative action in Brazil. This abstract has been used to develop a working paper, however arguments raised in this paper have additionally been delivered by way of a presentation. This working paper considers how adequate the current model of affirmative action in Brazil is in order to create substantive equality for Afro-Brazilians. The paper starts by considering the watershed allegations raised against Brazil in the 2001 UN Durban Conference, in which the claims of Brazil being a "racial democracy" were roundly debunked. Following the UN Conference, Brazil for the past two decades …

Article 14 Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Africa And The Non-Application Of The Verb ‘Enjoy’?, Cristiano D'Orsi, Cristiano D'Orsi

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

My contribution focuses on Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on the right ‘to seek and to enjoy […] asylum’ (14(1)) –subject to exceptions (14(2)) and how this right has been translated into the domestic legislation of African countries and is applied into practice. This is because the correct application of this article by states would help to construct and develop a better future for refugees in Africa.

The first regional legal instrument to adopt a formula similar to Article 14 is the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter), whose Article 12(3), recalls …

The Intersectionality Of Gender And Corruption In Africa, Qinyi Liu

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Corruption has long been recognized as a significant obstacle to good governance, the protection of human rights, and sustainable development in Africa. While the literature on anti-corruption has flourished in recent decades, there remains a critical gap in understanding the gendered nature and impact of corruption in the African context. This article aims to address this gap by examining the intersectionality of gender and corruption in Africa. It explores the extent to which corruption affects women and men differently, taking into account the social, economic, and political factors that shape these disparities. The article highlights that despite the region's commitment …

Intersections Between Child Marriage And Climate Change: A Case Study Of Malawi, Musu Bakoto Sawo

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Ultimately, this paper contributes to the discourse on safeguarding the rights and well-being of girls in Malawi and beyond, highlighting the imperative of addressing the converging challenges of climate change and child marriage on a global scale.

Operation Crossroads Africa: Building Bridges Of Friendship With Africa In The Post- Colonial Africa, Alieu Nyassi

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Black/African Americans have been disconnected from their African ancestry for centuries. This presentation examines how prominent an African American Minister, Dr. James H. Robinson, founded Operation Crossroads Africa, the organization President John F Kennedy modeled to start the US Peace Corps program. Operation Crossroads Africa Founded in 1958 continues to connect and build bridges between North America and Africa. Dr. Robinson’s goal is to complement and help the new African nations build infrastructure and improve education. Over the years, OCA volunteers built water systems, healthcare centers, schools, orphanages and communities centers for villages throughout Africa. Our aim is to share …

Rights-Based Collaborative Approaches For Gender-Responsive Financial Inclusion In The Implementation Of The African Continental Free Trade Area (Afcfta) For Sustainable Development, Philip A. Olayoku, Kingsley Obi Omeihe, Gloria Mkushi, Uiy Lawani

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

At its 18th Ordinary Session in 2012, the African Union adopted the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) among 54 Member States (approximately 1.3bn people), allowing free movement of people, goods and services and removing tariffs by up to 90% on goods over a 10 year period for the least developed countries. Designed to leverage collaborative policies, economize production, infrastructure development, information sharing and financial and market integration, if successful, AfCFTA will achieve a GDP of ca. US$3.4bn. In June 2022, the World Bank projected that women’s wages would rise by 11.2% due to industrial expansion. 53% of Africa’s population …

From ‘Economic Objectives’ To Constitutional Protection: A Path To Entrenching The Right To Development In The Legal Framework Of The Gambia, Maria Saine, Basiru Bah

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The 1997 Constitution of The Gambia offers minimal protection of economic rights that are essential in the realization of the right to development. The justiciable provisions of the bill of rights in Chapter IV of the Constitution are largely of civil and political rights in nature. Chapter XX of the Constitution outlines several objectives to guide State policy and law formulation as well as law enforcement. However, these principles are non-justiciable in nature, leaving the general population without judicially enforceable human rights despite years of economic deprivation.

The status of economic rights and the resultant neglect in investing towards realization …

Ubuntu, Anti-Corruption Principle, And The Protection Of The Right To Health In South Africa During The Covid-19: The Case Study Of The Solidarity Fund (Sf), Marianne Séverin

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In the COVID-19 context, all States had to protect the right to health of their people by implementing emergency measures to mitigate the negative effects of this global pandemic. South Africa declared COVID-19 a National Disaster (March 15, 2020) under the Disaster Management Act, 2002, N°57. The government has full authority to adopt emergency measures, including the creation of a Solidarity Fund (March 23, 2020) to respond to the coronavirus’ “health, humanitarian and social consequences”. In a context of corruption that is familiar to South Africa (the country scored 44 out of 100 points [Transparency International, 2020]), the Presidency has …

The Rise And Fall Of The Civil Societies: Why The Push For The Right To Development In Kenya Is In Limbo, Patrick Michael Ogeto

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Before the end of cold war in the 1990s Kenya’s civil society was one of the most vibrant in the region. The civil society comprised of the students and university staff intelligentsia, the religious body, and the local non-governmental organizations. From the heydays of political protests and activism of the 90s, a lot of change has taken place. First, this period saw the re-introduction of multiparty politics, lobbying for defense for human rights and several other numerous political transitions. However, since the promulgation of Kenya’s new constitution in 2010, the place of civil society organisations has been bogged down by …