Human Rights in Africa - Centre of African Studies

Human Rights in Africa (10 ECTS)

By Steffen Jensen and Andrew M. Jefferson,

Mondays 15-17. First session Monday the 1st of September 2008.

Human rights have become a central issue on the agenda in Africa in recent years. Governments, donors, and international organisations (such as the UN, NEPAD and the AU) and NGOs are highlighting the need to respect fundamental human rights – particularly in post-conflict situations and situations of democratic transition. This course examines the ‘practice of human rights’ with a particular focus on the ways in which rights discourse is translated and appropriated in a variety of African contexts. The course will pay meticulous attention to both rights-based reform practices and to Africa ‘in and for itself’ covering issues such as authority, legal pluralism, colonial history, and understandings of law.

Drawing on empirical cases about human rights interventions ranging from police and prison officer training to truth commissions and tribunals the course will draw attention to the dilemmas and paradoxes of rights practice and the conceptual ambivalence of human rights. The course will focus on the practices of implementing human rights in Africa and the subjects of human rights interventions offering a counter balance to the usual legal/normative approach to rights.