Drones to Monitor Human Rights

A recent controversial New York Times op-ed ‘drones for human rights’ by Andrew Stoboand and Mark Hanis has been the cause of major debates around human rights circles.The article proposes for a new ‘solution’ in solving systemic human rights abuse in conflict zones. In the article they write ‘A drone would let us count demonstrators, gun barrels and pools of blood. And the evidence could be broadcast for a global audience, including diplomats at the United Nations and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court' This argument further endeavors to add surveillance as a new course of humanitarian action besides the known customary methods of advocacy and enforcement. The article states ‘We could record the repression in Syria with unprecedented precision and scope. The better the evidence, the clearer the crimes, the higher the likelihood that the world would become as outraged as it should be' This outlook to solving human rights abuses seems like an attractive solution for those of us interested in preventing human rights abuses. However it is still a pre-mature argument as it ignores other fundamental aspects as there has always been an ubiquitous availability of information on human rights abuses however the problem has been attributed to the lack of political will to solve human rights by states, the inadequate response to these violations as well as the lack of legal framework on use of drones in international law. The article suggest that human rights organizations can now use drones to monitor abuses however it forgets to mention that the same human rights groups have in the past condemned the use of drones as they view it as a violator to human rights itself. The emergence of human rights in international law has placed the rights of man on a pedestal almost equal to the rights of the state after a long progressive battle with the inception of the ICC. Allowing drones to monitor human rights abuses or giving states the carteblanche to use drones against perceived ‘terrorists’ would be a setback to the achievement of rights of the individual as stipulated in the UDHR since it will undermine the role of the Rome Statute as well as eliminates the human value of giving testimony or providing evidence that a human rights violation occurred as drones will solely be providing the imagery satellite account to a human rights abuses. Another nascent issue to this myopic outlook is the violation of a country’s sovereignty during surveillance by drones as well as use of the drones to kill certain individuals of that particular country without the consent of that country. In Africa, the US is leading an aggressive campaign against terror suspects by building up drone bases in Ethiopia, Seychelles and around the Arabian Peninsula. Previously the US has already been known to uses armed drones against Al-Qaida suspects in Yemen and Somalia and also to monitor pirates off the coast of the country. In Sudan a similar project that uses satellite imagery to monitor human rights abuses is already being implemented in Darfur under the ‘Eyes on Darfur project’ however accounts of human rights violations still remain rampant in the region. Africa where most of the conflicts occur will be largely on the recipient side of this form of militaristic adventures and not only will it exacerbate inter and intra conflicts but it will also further alienate the African voice and interests in terms of security as well as human rights.

How to guarantee social protection in a highly disenfranchised world

Protests have gained a common ground in Kenya with volatile inflationary rates looming and ever increasing inequality gap widening. As i type this i can hear sounds of blowing vuvuzelas as public university lectures protest on the streets of Nairobi.The sound of the vuvuzela is not one of a celebratory tone but that marked by an unrestless workforce who for a long time have been receiving poor pay from the Kenyan government and now want their demands fulfilled. The International Labour Organization and the Social Protection Advisory Group have released a new report Social protection floor: for a fair and inclusive globalization that aims to provide a blue print for governments especially in developing countries to promote ' social protection' reduce poverty and promote social inclusiveness. UN Sec General Ban Ki-Moon has stated that

"The Social Protection Floor Initiative is a UN system-wide effort to promote common priorities and solutions, to ensure basic social guarantees for all".

This new shift to development aims to increase safety nets to the most vulnerable by promoting social inclusiveness of all citizenry in order to reduce poverty. Despite the existence of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, access to these 'universal rights' has not been so universal rather selective as many remain locked out of the provisions of this authoritarian declaration. In developing countries fundamental developmental concerns such as those of the food insecurity, housing, water, sanitation, income insecurity, lack of social benefits and exclusion of women in the decision making process are just but a tip of the ice berg. How can a government guarantee there is human security for all in terms of income, employment or access to basic social services without excluding anyone be it the elderly, women and children or the youth. The adoption of the social protection floor as a global concept aims to tie it's approach down to country specific social problems to promote inclusive growth. This concept deviates from the previous 'Washington Consensus' one size fits all rule that offered a temporary yet concentric solution to social and economic problems. However, social protection endevours to offer country specific prescription to economic and social woes giving countries the autonomy and ownership to design and implement their own social protection floor that will embrace and acknowledge the countries' institutional frameworks, history, social aspirations and economic budget.Social protection floors in general aims to protect all from economic and social insecurity while paying tentative attention to to those that were excluded by the bounties of globalization.The achievement of the social floors will highly be determined by how effective our governments are in providing security, ensuring rule of law and inclusive growth as well as how active the citizenship is in terms of exercising their universal rights and their obligations that link them to their development states in terms of paying taxes and obeying the laws. Duncan Green in his book

From poverty to power:How active citizens and effective states can change the world

sees the cooperation of effective states and active citizenship as an important component in eliminating poverty and ensuring social inclusion. The social protection strategy with it's multiplier effects could be the developmental solution to the challenges that capitalism as a system has just thrown to us. By the time i was concluding writing this short article,i had gathered that the government had already pronounced the lecturers strike illegal so much for social protection!!.

Who are the real tyrants?

''All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent'' Thomas Jefferson

I thought i could remain silent over the brutal killing of Muammar Gaddafi but i just can't otherwise i will be equal to those who choose to be blind to atrocities. So they killed him in cold blood and treated his body with so much disregard for human life and human rights going against the laws of Islam, the same law that the new Libya claims to be founded on. Jamie Tarabay in this article says

''those who were fighting to depose him might be as ruthless as the person they were determined to replace''

Where was the logic in this brutality? does Libyans even know that we live in a democratic world that guarantees everybody the right to life no matter how tyrannical one is perceived to be. Worse tyrants are those in 'civilized countries' who celebrated the death of Muammar. Such is Simon Sebag Montefiore who wrote an Op-ed called Dictators Get the Deaths They Deserve shamelessly justified the killings quoting biblical instances he says

''There is no greater achievement for the tyrant — short of immortality — than to die in his own bed''

He further states

''His preposterously exuberant cult of personality was surely shattered by the spectacle of his pathetic demolition''

In another article by Ellen Knickmeyer 'Ladies love Libyan Rebels- the sexual Revolution arrives in Tripoli' further ignores the atrocities the rebels committed on the women and children in their quest to oust Gaddafi. It endevours to paint a propagandist picture by adding a sexual dimension to the war. How can the Libyan woman see the rebel who wiped her family as a 'sexual liberator'? How possible is this scenario? What prompted me to write this article was such kinds of literature being circulated and published in respected and widely read newspapers. The amount of moral and social decay being presented here is one of utmost disgust.

No more a Dark Continent

I have never felt like I am in the right place at the right time more than I do now - living in the once famous Dark Continent of Africa - that is now illuminating so much light which it had been absorbing from other continents in the past. Previously living in Africa was nothing but a quandary that required great mental, physical and psychological efforts to make things happen. Just a few decades ago, there were few success stories coming from this ‘dark’ continent. With a dearth of positive media, excessive brain drain, poor infrastructure and technology inter alia African success story was on the periphery. However, Africa is now on the center stage-a force that can not be avoided. It has been breathing so heavily for many years and it’s only now that the world is recognizing the centrality of Africa in the global arena. But now relative shifts in the global structure has witnessed the emergence of popular concepts such as Fareed Zakaria’s ‘rise of the rest’ or the ‘decline of the West’ . Such concepts are showing the increasing importance of not only Asia and China but particularly Africa. To feel the rhythms and sounds of this new Africa many are flocking to the Kenyan Capital Nairobi, which for a long time has been termed as the ‘NewYork of Africa’ As Jonathan Kalan observes there is a massive migration pattern from West to East especially among fresh Gen-Y whom he describes as

Flocking from America's top universities, grad programs and consulting firms to the pulsing heart of a new Africa

Most of them are here for the 'African rush' either for investment, development, travel, adventure or to study. With the financial crisis still biting hard in many parts of the world many prefer to come live or study at African top institutions which are relatively much cheaper than they would have paid back at home. The prospect of making it in Africa seems higher than in most parts of the world especially now that Africa is viewed as a new frontier that still has room for development and innovations. With the right infrastructure, policies, a vibrant middle class as well as flourishing democracies Africa could be a global leader. Behind this movement are the African elites and firm believers of this continent who want to show the good side of Africa alongside it's challenges and who are actually doing something to push this agenda. Such initiatives are the likes of this project and this blog that want to tell the great ideas of Africa in a book!!!

The "patron saint of demography"

Thomas Malthus would have called 31st October, 2011 a demographical catastrophe. That is the day the world population is supposed to hit 7 Billion according to a UNFPA report.Malthus argued that population if left unchecked would lead to starvation. At his time, Malthus ideas were viewed as controversial and benign as the world was witnessing the industrial revolution and food was in abundance.However his views could be more popular now more than ever when the world is unable to feed itself due to diminishing resources and high population growth.Unlike Malthus who saw disasters such as famine, earthquakes, war and diseases as necessary in preventing population boom, Lester R. Brown a Neo-Malthusian theorist offers a softer solution like birth controls as a way to reduce over population. The Malthusian catastrophe could be a reality and not a fallacy as many saw it. Regardless how absurd his ideas were or how extreme it was regarding the 'positive' and 'negative' checks as well as giving birth to social-Darwinism theory that is known to have justified racism and propelled imperialism in the past. Malthus could be right.Of the projected 7 billion population 1 Billion is hungry according to a FAO report this is the fraction of population whom Paul Collier calls the 'Bottom Billion'. In addition I Billion of the population lives in the slums while 3 Billion continue to stay in urban settlements. It has been projected that 70 percent of the world population will be urban by 2050, and that most urban growth will occur in less developed countries. We should be wary of population explosion especially developing countries that are still faced with developmental crisis of sanitation, hygiene and unemployment. In a world of global warming, food shortages, and fuel crisis a 7 Billion + population could be a catastrophe!!

I believe that it is the intention of the Creator that the earth should be replenished; but certainly with a healthy, virtuous and happy population, not an unhealthy, vicious and miserable one

Thomas Malthus

US troops move to Uganda, Kenya's advances to Somalia

As the economic milieu seems bleak in most developed countries, the IMF has projected a 6% economic growth for Sub Saharan African (SSA) economies beginning next year.In Nairobi, Ms Sayeh, Director of the IMF's African is in the country to launch the African economic outlook. The organization has warned that the economic momentum in SSA could be affected by the global financial volatility, and calls for a rethink in government policies in order to insulate the countries from the effects in global slowdown. However, a different predicament looms, that of a political contagion-spill over of conflicts. As president Obama announced this week that he will send 100 troops to Uganda’s troubled Northern region for peacekeeping and counter terrorism against the belligerent Joseph Kony, Kenyan army together with the Somali Transitional Federal Government TFG have launched a military action that will create a buffer zone against the Somali Islamists Al Shabaab to weed out the insurgents’ infamous rule. What has prompted the Obama government to be involved in what has long been seen as a ‘forgotten conflict’? The Kony reign of terror has been ongoing for the last 25 years with various attempts by both the US and Ugandan army to end it having failed. The US government could be using this as an opportunity to be involved in peacekeeping and counter terrorism in not only East Africa but also SSA. Major shifts in tectonic plates in this part of the world could have prompted the US government, such as the piracy issue in Somalia that for the past few weeks has witnessed the capturing and killing of foreign nationals along the Kenyan coast, discovery of oil in Uganda as well as the ever increasing threat of Al Shabaab militia. There is a direct correlation between US and Kenya’s security concerns that has annals in the 1998 US embassies bombings in Nairobi. Additionally the Kampala bombing this year in which the Somali Islamists claimed responsibility has raised alarm between the governments. In regards to the Kenyan forces action on the Somali soil, the Al Shabaab militia have already issued warnings of a retaliatory attacks against Kenya following the latter's decision to send troops into the neighboring Somalia. Kenya on the hand is claiming that it is not at war with Somalia but rather trying to stabilize the country. The US military approach to Uganda seems similar whereby it is not necessarily attacking the LRA but only offering logistical, military and intelligence support to the Ugandan army. Max Fisher analysis of the US increasing involvement in SSA is that;

''It's difficult to find a U.S. interest at stake in the Lord's Resistance Army's campaign of violence. The group could go on killing and enslaving for decades -- as they well might -- and the American way of life would continue chugging along. It's possible that there's some immediate U.S. interest at stake we can't obviously see. Maybe, for example, Uganda is offering the U.S. more help with peacekeeping and counter terrorism in East Africa, where the U.S. does have concrete interests, in exchange for the troops’’.

Whether it is the global financial crisis that will affect the SSA economies more or is the subsequent political risks is still unknown.

Kenya Mourns a Humming Bird

It is a cloudy day in Nairobi and it has been for the last few days following the unfortunate death of Wangari Maathai, the flags lie low following the presidents announcement shortly after her demise that she will receive a state burial. She was the vox populi, a political activist and the world’s most celebrated personality when it came to environment preservation and human rights. From fairly humble beginnings, she rose to become an avante garde environmentalist, First African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Laureate, First East African woman to get a Phd as well establishing the Green Belt movement Foundation that seeks to conserve bio-diversity in Kenya. Wangari Maathai was a fighter; she survived a dictatorial regime that endeared to silence her dissent and her calls for gender equality. She went out of her way to protect the environment and struggled to protect ‘the fate of the species'. In her speech in Oslo, Norway after she was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize she denounced the use of a wooden coffin for the departed and it is there that her last wishes were written. Coming from a continent that is wrought with the scourge of HIV and AIDs, she called for an alternative to the usage of wooden coffins as it is not sustainable comparing to the amount of lives being lost on a daily basis. Her biggest achievement was the endless campaign she waged against anthropocentric views that has inspired many all over the globe. In her words, she will continue to become a humming bird and inspire so many for a long time to come. Her smile will forever be cherished and remain in people’s mind for the generations to come. She left us with a huge responsibility, and that is to continue fighting for her soul so that it can stay with us forever. Africa has been placed on a pedestal thanks to her achievements and beliefs, we now have to carry her torch and let it light even during the darkest of times like now when she is not with us. Even though it was sad to see her precious smoke rising above us as she was cremated, we are glad that her wishes were honored.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,

Requiescat in Pace (RIP) Wangari Maathai