Human Rights Day – 21 March 2010
On 21 March, South Africa will celebrate Human Rights Day. The date marks the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, when scores of demonstrators were killed and wounded by police during an anti-pass protest.
The South African Institute of International Affairs has recently produced several papers investigating the role of human rights in foreign policy. Some of these pieces are available for download below:
- Human Rights in Foreign Policy and Practice: The South African Case Considered, by Danny Titus, SAIIA Occasional Paper, No 52, November 2009 Download - English [.pdf]
- Whither Human Rights in African International Relations?by Mireille Affa'a Mindzie, SAIIA Occasional Paper, No 39, August 2009 Download - English [.pdf]
- People Power: How Civil Society Blocked an Arms Shipment for Zimbabwe, by Nicole Fritz, SAIIA Occasional Paper, No 36, July 2009 Download - English [.pdf]
- Human Rights and Wrongs Diplomatic Pouch by Terence Corrigan, 1 April 2009.
- South Africa’s Foreign Engagements and Human Rights (SAIIA Event Report)25-26 March 2009
Diplomatic Pouch
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Will oil build or break Ghana's democracy?
Will commercial oil production (due to begin later this year) build or break the back of Ghana’s democracy? This may seem an unnecessarily inflammatory question, but history demonstrates that healthy caution is necessary in managing oil revenues. Ghana, however, has made history by hosting a series of free and fair elections in recent years. Twice the opposition party has won and the incumbent has stepped down in a display of due respect for democracy. This is groundbreaking progress as less than a handful of African countries have attained such a benchmark of democratic consolidation.
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The Congo Basin Forest Partnership: Together, Shaping the World of the Future
On 11 and 12 November 2009, the sixth plenary session of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) took place in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This high-level meeting brought together delegates from the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) countries as well as major development partners, certain international NGOs, international organisations and private sector representatives. One month ahead of the Copenhagen Conference, these delegates gathered around an issue central to the broader climate change agenda, namely forestry. Forestry is central not least because avoided deforestation in tropical forest areas, such as the Congo Basin, has been identified as a priority option for mitigating climate change. The world seems to agree that tropical forests are important. However, how this importance should translate into action is a subject of much debate.
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Trade Policy Trajectory in South Africa
Against the backdrop of the global economic crunch and the local economy’s recession, there is a fierce debate on South Africa’s (SA) trade policy trajectory. These matters have moved into sharp relief in light of the government’s decision to raise import tariffs on certain clothing items. Clothing, long the lightening rod for these debates, sees some trade experts, economists and actors in the tripartite alliance exhibiting a desire to tightly control trade policy; others support further trade liberalisation.
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The Africa South America Summit, 27-28 September 2009
The second Africa South America summit, hosted by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela formed the third part of a triangle of events, starting with the General Debate at the opening of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, followed immediately by the third summit of the G20 Financial in Pittsburgh.
What's New
Seminar 24 November 2009; States in Fragile Environments
SAIIA in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy and the University of Pretoria yesterday hosted a seminar entitled ‘States in fragile environments: Common engagement for conflict resolution and development’. The seminar formed part of the state visit by Their Majesties, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway. The proceedings were opened by His Majesty. Norway’s foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, addressed the audience of diplomats, academics and media about some of the issues challenging peace and security in Africa. In his speech he mentioned the importance of the efforts of the international community to address the main threats to stability in Africa, namely the dysfunction of weak states with weak institutions and which lack public legitimacy and territorial control. He also spoke of the common responsibility of Norway and South Africa to contribute to the restoration of peace and stability on the continent.
A full version of Minister Støre’s speech can be downloaded here.
Latest Publications
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Africa’s Peacemaker? Lessons from South African Conflict Mediation
South Africa has done much in the 15 years since the fall of apartheid to establish its leadership on the continent. It has been a constant architect of Africa’s new peace and security architecture and an advocate of new diplomatic norms. Whether South Africa has succeeded in meeting its goals as Africa’s mediator and the ambitious aspirations shared by African heads of state and intellectuals following its transition to democracy is debatable. -
Somaliland. An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition
Co-published with the Institute for Global DialogueSomaliland has been described as an ‘inspiring story of resilience and reconstruction, and a truly African Renaissance, that has many lessons to teach the rest of Africa and the international community’. This study seeks to identify some of those lessons, particularly those pertaining to Somaliland’s sustained efforts to create internal unity and gain regional and international recognition.
Occasional Papers
The Oil Factor in Sino–Angolan Relations at the Start of the 21st Century
by Ana Cristina Alves
SAIIA Occasional Paper, No 55, February 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
Policy Briefings
Brazil as an Emerging Power: The View from the United States
by Shannon O’Neil
SAIIA Policy Briefing, No 16, February 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
Research Reports
Untangling the Nets: The Governance of Tanzania’s Marine Fisheries
by Mariam January and Honest Prosper Ngowi
SAIIA Research Report, No 5, February 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
