Author: cswpress

Five years is too long: the Nigerian government must deliver on its promises to secure the release of Leah Sharibu

Posted on by cswpress in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa

Leah Sharibu has been the hostage of terrorists for five years now.

She was just 14 years old when she was taken – the sole Christian among a group of 110 schoolgirls abducted from their school in Dapchi, Nigeria, by members of the Islamic State West Africa Province in February 2018.

Those familiar with her case will recall that just one month later all of Leah’s surviving classmates – five died in transit – were loaded onto trucks and returned to their families following negotiations by the government. But Leah was not among them.

The terrorists told her they would only release her if she renounced her faith and converted to Islam in exchange for her freedom. At just 14 years of age, Leah refused to give in to their pressure.

Continue reading “Five years is too long: the Nigerian government must deliver on its promises to secure the release of Leah Sharibu” →
Abune Antonios, the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.

Let us honour the memory of Patriarch Antonios by bringing an end to the violations of the Eritrean regime

Posted on by cswpress in Eritrea, Sub-Saharan Africa

Abune (Father) Antonios, the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, died a year ago today. He was 94 years old, and had spent the last 16 years of his life under house arrest following his repeated objections to unwarranted government interference in church affairs.

In April 2004, the patriarch was appointed with the unanimous endorsement of the Holy Synod of the Church to lead one of only four recognised religious denominations in Eritrea (the others being Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism, and Sunni Islam). As a leader of one of the few religious communities not directly outlawed by the Eritrean authorities, one might have expected that he would not face the harassment and pressures the Eritrean regime excels in dispensing.

However, this was not the case. By August 2005 he had been removed by the government from administrative control of the patriarchate, and confined to ceremonial duties. Then in January 2006 he was removed from office in violation of canon law, his advisor Merigeta Yitbarek Berhe was detained, and he was held under de facto house arrest at his official residence. Eventually, in 2007 the patriarch’s personal pontifical insignia and clothing were seized, and he was formally placed under incommunicado house arrest in an undisclosed location in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

Continue reading “Let us honour the memory of Patriarch Antonios by bringing an end to the violations of the Eritrean regime” →
European flags flying in Strasbourg.

How trade can be leveraged as a foreign policy tool to press for human rights improvements

Posted on by cswpress in European Union, International Arenas

Trade can be used as a foreign policy tool – including as leverage on human rights issues. But there are two foundational principles of international trade law which dictate how this can and cannot be done.

The first, ‘national treatment’, requires that once a good or service has entered a country’s market, it should be treated equally to those produced locally. This means, for example, that once an item of clothing manufactured in Sri Lanka enters the Belgian market, the government generally cannot impose additional restrictions on the product which differ from those applied to clothing manufactured in Belgium; and there are restrictions on giving domestic companies advantages through, for example, subsidies (‘state aid’).

The second, known as ‘Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN)’, restricts countries from granting special access to only select other countries. It does this by requiring that if a country wants to grant special trade preferences to another country, it must do so for all. This means that the UK, for example, cannot unilaterally offer special exceptions to imports from India or the US without also offering them universally.

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Protesters with Myanmar/Burma flag painted on their wrists.

Two years after the coup, we must do all we can to stop the carnage in Myanmar

Posted on by cswpress in Asia, Burma

By Benedict Rogers

Two years ago today, the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar/Burma’s military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, shattered the dream of a democratic, free Myanmar and plunged the country back into bloody, brutal repression. When he seized power in a coup d’etat on 1 February 2021, overthrowing the country’s democratically elected civil leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government, he tore up a decade of the military’s own reform process and returned Myanmar to pariah status in the international community.

The coup unleashed a new war on this beautiful but benighted country that has already endured 76 years of civil war. The impoverished country which had been beginning to emerge into the world economy, attracting foreign investment as it liberalised politically, has been consigned to even harsher levels of poverty, and a humanitarian and human rights crisis even more severe than under previous military regimes.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 17,492 people have been arrested in the past two years since the coup, and 13,689 are still in prison. The junta has killed at least 2,894 people, including 282 children. At least 143 people have been sentenced to death, including 42 in absentia. But these are only the figures recorded – the real death toll, taking into account the military’s offensives in the ethnic regions, is likely to be much, much higher. Indeed, in his September 2022 report, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar Thomas Andrews estimated that more than 13,000 children have been killed, while 1.3 million people have been displaced and 28,000 homes have been destroyed. He said Myanmar’s crisis was spiralling from ‘bad to worse to horrific.’

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A man prays in a church in Ogbomosho, Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Muslim-Muslim ticket has implications for national cohesion

Posted on by cswpress in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria’s ruling All Party Congress (APC’s) decision to do away with traditional convention and opt for a same faith ticket, which would result in a same faith presidency, feeds into a religious exclusivism that is inconsistent with the healing balm that a major political party such as the APC – or any other party – should be deploying at this crucial stage of the country’s political development, when instability and insecurity are at such unprecedented levels.

The nation is heavily fragmented along tribal and religious lines, among others. Therefore, political leaders from all parties ought to be advocates of unity through inclusivity, as a reflection of the country’s diversity.

This diversity holds many advantages for the strengthening mutual understanding, oneness, ensuring social cohesion, and fostering sustainable development, when handled correctly. Unfortunately, the APC’s decision to adopt a Muslim-Muslim ticket runs the risk of undermining the remaining gains of harmonious coexistence that the country has been battling to entrench.

Continue reading “Nigeria’s Muslim-Muslim ticket has implications for national cohesion” →