Exploring the link between poverty and human rights in Africa

Description

This book addresses poverty, one of the important issues confronting Africa, from a multi-disciplinary approach. With contributions from eminent scholars from diverse backgrounds, the book explores poverty from a human rights perspective. Its central message is that poverty is not necessarily a failure on the part of an individual, but rather caused by the actions or inactions of governments, which are often exacerbated by structural inequalities in many African societies. This in turn requires a more pragmatic approach grounded in respect for human rights.Exploring the link between poverty and human rights in Africa will be useful to researchers, policymakers, students, activists and others interested in addressing poverty.

Sujets

• Economie
• développement
• Politics
• Relations internationales
• Développement
• Géopolitique

Informations

• Publié par: PULP (Pretoria University Law Press)
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781920538927
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Exploring the link between poverty and human rights in Africa

Edited by Ebenezer Durojaye and Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi

2020

Exploring the link between poverty and human rights in Africa

Published by: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law in Africa. PULP also publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books from African countries other than South Africa. This book was peer reviewed prior to publication.

For more information on PULP, see www.pulp.up.ac.za

Printed and bound by: Pinetown Printers, South Africa

To order, contact: PULP Faculty of Law University of Pretoria South Africa 0002 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] [e-mail] www.pulp.up.ac.za

Cover design: Yolanda Booyzen, Centre for Human Rights

ISBN: 978-1-920538-92-7

© 2020

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONTRIBUTORS

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General introduction to poverty and human rights in Africa1 Ebenezer Durojaye & Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi 1 Introduction 1 2 Understanding poverty 3 3 Nexus between poverty and human rights 4 4 Significance of this book 8 4.1 The relevance 10 5 Overview of the book 10 5.1 Section I: Trends and incidence of poverty in Africa 10 5.2 Section II: Poverty and socio-economic rights 12 5.3 Section III: Poverty and vulnerable groups 12 5.4 Section IV: Poverty and access to justice 13

Integrating a human rights approach to food security in national plans and budgets: The South African National Development Plan15 Julian May 1 Introduction 15 2 Human rights and food security 16 3 Development planning and human rights 20 4 The components of budgeting for human rights 23 4.1 Diagnostic analysis 23 4.2 Identifying interventions and budget prioritisation 23 4.3 Estimating the financial costs of achieving food security 25 4.5 Estimating social and economic benefits 26 5 Public expenditure management for food security 26 5.1 Fiscal and monetary policy 26 5.2 Multi-year budgeting 28 6 Conclusion 29

Is South Africa winning the war on poverty and inequality? What do the available statistics tell us?33 Emmanuel Sekyere, Steven Gordon, Gary Pienaar & Narnia Bohler-Muller 1 Introduction 33 1.1 Income inequality in South Africa 33 2 Poverty and human development trends in South Africa 41 2.1 South African Social Attitudes Survey: Perceptions of poverty 42 2.2 Human development 46

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Access to services Addressing social inequality in South Africa 4.1 Addressing income inequality in South Africa 4.2 Addressing human development challenges 4.3 Addressing service delivery Conclusion and summary of findings

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Who really ‘state-captured’ South Africa? Revealing silences in poverty, inequality and structurally-corrupt capitalism59 Patrick Bond 1 Introduction 59 2 Inequality, the state and its ‘capture’ 63 3 The political economy of the capitalist state 66 4 World Bank inequality denialism 68 5 The fight between hostile brothers: The ‘Zuptas’ and ‘White Monopoly Capital’ 76 6 Social resistances 82

Poverty, women and the human right to water for growing food95 Ngcimezile Mbano-Mweso 1 Introduction 95 2 The human right to water 97 2.1 Recognition in international law 97 2.2 Definition and content: Is there a right to water for growing food? 100 2.3 Normative content of the human right to water for growing food 107 3 Conclusion 111

The link between environmental pollution and poverty in Africa115 Olubayo Oluduro 1 Introduction 115 2 Legal framework for the protection of the environment in Africa 117 3 Nature of environmental pollution in Africa 120 3.1 Environmental pollution in Africa: Case studies of some countries 121 4 Nexus between pollution and poverty 129 4.1 Environmental pollution leads to diversion of labour 130 4.2 Increased burden of disease in poor countries 131 4.3 Problem of food security 131 4.4 Right to safe drinking water 133 5 Protecting the environment to fight poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 134 6 Recommendations 135 6.1 Political commitment 135 6.2 Promotion of education and information sharing 136 6.3 Eliminating poverty 136

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Conclusion

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Alleviating poverty through retirement reforms143 Kitty Malherbe 1 Introduction 143 2 Poverty among older persons 143 3 Current social security provision for older persons 145 4 Arguments for the reform of the current retirement income system 146 5 Proposed retirement reforms 150 5.1 Comprehensive social security and retirement reform process 150 5.2 Reforms proposed by National Treasury 152 6 Constitutional principles guiding reforms 153 6.1 Coordinated approach 154 6.2 Inclusivity 155 6.3 Progressive realisation 156 6.4 Governance and accountability 156 6.5 Availability of resources 156 6.6 ‘Lifespan’ view to addressing poverty 158 7 Potential impact of social security and retirement income reforms 158

Disability, poverty and human rights in Africa: Opportunities for poverty reduction from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities163 Enoch M Chilemba 1 Introduction 163 2 Poverty, disability and human rights link in Africa 165 2.1 Persons with disabilities in Africa: Among the poorest of the poor 165 2.2 Poverty, disability and human rights linkage 168 3 Utilising the opportunities from CRPD in countering obstacles relating to disability and poverty in Africa 170 3.1 Fostering equality and non-discrimination to reduce poverty 171 3.2 Fostering inclusive education to eradicate poverty 175 3.3 Enhancing employment in the open labour market to eradicate poverty 180 3.4 Ensuring social protection to reduce poverty 184 4 Conclusion 188

The co-existence of gender inequality and poverty in Southern Africa195 Nomthandazo Ntlama 1 Introduction 195 2 SADC’s transformative vision in eliminating gender inequalities and poverty 198

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2.1 Reducing poverty and eliminating gender inequality: A mammoth task 198 2.2 Towards a transformative region: Advancing the principles of the community of nations 204 3 Conclusion 213 The potential of the African human rights system 10 in addressing poverty217 Bright Nkrumah 1 Introduction 217 2 Norm creation and norm enforcement: Issues and implications 219 2.1 Normative framework for addressing poverty 219 2.2 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 220 2.3 Little angels: African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 221 2.4 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa 222 3 Other instruments relating to poverty 223 3.1 AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (Anti-Corruption Convention) 223 3.2 Declaration on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa 223 3.4 Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme 224 4 Institutional frameworks for addressing poverty 225 4.1 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 225 4.2 African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 226 4.3 African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights 228 4.4 Need for complementarity: The road not taken 230 5 Other related mechanisms 231 5.1 New Partnership for Africa’s Development 231 5.2 African Peer Review Mechanism 231 6 International best practice dealing with poverty 232 7 Concluding reflections 234 Realising access to justice for the poor: Lessons 11 from working with rural communities241 Victoria Balogun 1 Introduction 241 2 What is access to justice for the poor? 243 3 How are non-profit organisations such as the Centre for Community Justice and Development promoting access to justice in South Africa post-1994? 243 4 Are there any barriers to access to justice and do they have any implication(s) for the poor in poor communities? 247 5 The intersection between poverty and access to justice for poor communities 249

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Access to justice, the role of legal aid offices and the commitment to serve the poor in poor communities 249 Equality and access to justice for the poor 251 Conclusion 252

The role of the South African Human Rights 12 Commission in ensuring state accountability to address poverty255 Rachael Adams 1 Introduction 255 2 Poverty and human rights 257 2.1 International human rights law 257 2.2 Poverty and human rights in South Africa 259 2.3 Socio-economic rights 260 3 What do we mean by state accountability? 261 3.1 State accountability 261 4 South African Human Rights Commission 263 4.1 Mandate and functions 263 4.2 Reporting requirements 265 5 Structures of accountability 266 5.1 Complaints 266 5.2 Reporting 269 6 Inequality and intersectional discrimination 273 6.1 Interdependence of rights and the role of government 274 7 Conclusion: The role of the South African Human Rights Commission 274

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PREFACE

It is a great honour for me to write the preface to this book, which deals with a very important issue affecting not only our continent but also the world. Poverty is a serious challenge to the realisation of economic and social well-being. It manifests itself in different forms and is reinforced by conflicts, structural inequality, lack of capabilities, high unemployment rate, lack of access to social amenities, food insecurity and unequal pay. It is also as a result of failure to adopt appropriate policies and programmes that will meet the needs of the people or poor implementation of poverty- reduction programmes as well as impediments in accessing justice particularly by vulnerable and marginalised groups. In 2015, the International Community adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the arching goal of eradicating poverty by 2030. The SDGs contain a number of ambitious goals, which if properly implemented will see us bridging the gaps between the haves and have-nots in our societies. Many governments, including African governments have committed to ensuring that the indicators of the SDGs are met.

At the African regional level, Agenda 2063 aims at eradicating poverty, building shared prosperity through social and economic transformation to ensure that its people live a dignified life free from hunger and poverty. At different fora, our leaders have reinstated their commitments to addressing the scourge of poverty on our continent.

However, as we all know, eradicating poverty goes beyond mere words but require political will and decisive measures from our governments. We are yet to see this happen. In the last decade we have witnessed drastic decrease in the number of people living in poverty worldwide, however, this reduction remains unequal and a significant number of people living in Africa still wallow in abject poverty. It is unacceptable that millions of people should continue to live in extreme poverty. Poverty dehumanises and erodes the confidence of an individual. Therefore, it becomes necessary that all measures taken to address poverty must be grounded in human rights. As noted by the former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, efforts by states to address poverty should not be seen as a charitable act, rather it must be seen as a human rights obligation.

While human rights instruments do not specifically contain a provision on poverty, several of the human rights guaranteed in these instruments are relevant to addressing poverty. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has noted that some of the elements of a rights-based approach to poverty include participation, respect for dignity, equality and non-discrimination, accountability and transparency. Some of these elements are contained in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol). Specifically, Article 13 of the Maputo Protocol contains a number of important provisions to ensure economic well-being of women and eliminate poverty. In addition, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has made efforts to address

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the link between poverty and human rights in some of its work. Resolution 73, the Commission expressed concern about the prevailing condition of poverty and under-development in the region and called on states to act appropriately with a view to addressing this challenge. The Commission has expressed a similar sentiment in its Pretoria Declaration on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, where it emphasised the importance of realising socioeconomic rights as a pathway to poverty reduction in the region. More importantly, the recent development of the Draft Protocol to the African Charter on Social Security and Protection is an important step aimed at combating poverty on our continent.

The chapters in this book would seem to resonate with the approach of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights as well as addressing poverty over the years. Apart from adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing poverty, this book places human rights principles at its core. This is a significant contribution to the debate on poverty and human rights on our continent. Researchers, policy-makers, students, institutions, civil society groups and activists will find this book very useful to their work.

Commissioner Jamesina Essie L. King Chairperson Working Group on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is a product of papers presented at the Colloquium on Poverty and Human Rights in Africa organised by the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape in November of 2014. We are grateful to the participants of this Colloquium. More importantly, we are grateful to the Ford Foundation for providing the financial support towards the Colloquium.

Thanks go to the anonymous peer-reviewers of this book for their insightful comments and suggestions. Our gratitude also goes to the editorial team and administrative staff at PULP for their tireless support and contribution towards making this publication a reality.

Pretoria, South Africa January, 2020

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CONTRIBUTORS

ADAMS, Rachelis a Senior Research Specialist at the Human Sciences (PHD) Research Council, South Africa, and a post-doctoral researcher at the Information Law and Policy Centre, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of London. Dr Adams previously held the position of Senior Researcher Civil and Political Rights at the South African Human Rights Commission, from 2014-2016. Dr Adams’ first monograph is forthcoming in early 2020 with Routledge, entitledTransparency: New Trajectories in Law. BALOGUN, Victoriais a law lecturer and the co-founder of the Access to Justice programme at the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN). She specialises in Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Which is an integral part of Medical Law. Her work focuses on different aspects of women’s rights and health law. She has a particular interest in sexual and reproductive rights, medical law, human rights, access to justice, and human and drug trafficking, especially in the African context. She has done some consultancy work for various organisations including the A2J, UNICEF, UNFPA, LEAD, CCJD, Street Law, IPLT, Commission for Gender and Equality and the AU. BOHLER-MULLER,Narniaholds the degrees of BJuris LLB LLM (UPE) LLD (UP). Previously she was Professor of Law at Vista University and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) before joining Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) as research director of social sciences in February 2011. Currently she is Executive Director of the Democracy Governance and Service Delivery research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council, an adjunct Professor of the Nelson R Mandela School of Law at the University of Fort Hare and a Research Fellow with the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of Free State. She has over 100 peer reviewed journal publications and book chapters, and has co-edited five books. She is an admitted Advocate of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa and served as presiding officer for the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) in Port Elizabeth for 7 years. Amongst others she has completed research consultancy work for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on HIV/AIDS, human rights, access to justice and public participation; the Institute for Child Witness Research and Training on gender-based violence; and the Department of Health on National Health Insurance. Her research interests include international and constitutional law, human rights, democracy, governance and social justice. She has published widely in these areas and some of her works have appeared in international and national journals as well as book chapters. In 2016, she was shortlisted as one of 14 candidates for the position of Public Protector. BOND, Patrickis a political economist, Professor at the University of the Western Cape School of Government in Cape Town, following more than two decades teaching at both Wits University School of Governance in Johannesburg and the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society in Durban. His best- known work is Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa, and other critical analyses can be found in the books Politics of Climate Justice, Against Global Apartheid, Talk Left Walk Right, Looting Africa, The Accumulation of Capital in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe’s Plunge, Uneven Zimbabwe and Cities of Gold, Townships of Coal, as well as numerous journal and professional articles. CHILEMBA, Enoch MacDonnella Bachelor of Laws (LL B) (honours) holds degree from the University of Malawi; a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria; and a Doctor of Law (LLD) degree from the University of the Western Cape. He is the deputy head of department; Coordinator of the Disability Rights Clinic and lecturer in human rights law, disability rights law, human rights and the law for social work, and public international law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Malawi. He has served as doctoral and post- doctoral researcher at the Community Law Centre (now Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights) and the Centre of

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