YEAR OF THREATS TO HUMAN RIGHTS
IT IS shocking how many reviews of 2018 focus on US President Donald Trump. English language news seems to revolve around a man who has proven to be against most of what the modern and progressive forces in the world stand for. To avoid the obsession, here are 15 highlights of the year gone by from a Southern perspective.
February: President Cyril Ramaphosa is inaugurated as South Africa’s fifth democratically elected Head of State, promising to rid government and state-owned entities of corruption.
Ramaphosa pledged to improve service delivery and the country’s infrastructure, and spur economic growth by wooing foreign investors, and focus on manufacturing and industrial development.
March: Abiy Ahmed is elected Prime Minister of Ethiopia, ending decades of political repression and hostility with neighbouring Eritrea.
Within months, Ahmed lifted the ban on opposition groups, encouraged opposition members to return to the country and wooed the diaspora. He welcomed Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki to Ethiopia, and border crossings between the two opened.
March: Russian President Vladimir Putin secures a fourth term in office with 77% of the vote, voting also taking place in the Crimea.
April: There is an outpouring of grief in South Africa as the masses mourn the passing of Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
New revelations emerge about the apartheid state’s extensive efforts under Strategic Communications to discredit her and the ANC before 1994.
April: Swazi King Mswati III changes his country’s name from Swaziland (the British colonial name) to eSwatini.
May: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the EU parliament and later the US Congress on how Cambridge Analytica misused the data of millions of Facebook users without permission. In November, Facebook admits is was used to incite violence in Myanmar.
July: South Africa hosts the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg where the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa pledge to increase development financing through the New Development Bank, fast-track development co-operation, and more closely align their foreign policies.
July: Australians protest against the policy of detaining migrants and refugees on the Pacific Islands of Manus and Nauru.
August: A Canadian Foreign Ministry tweet calls for the immediate release of Saudi human rights activists, leading to an unprecedented spat between the two countries.
August: The UN calls for Myanmar’s top military generals to face genocide charges for the ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya Muslim population of Rakhine state, where 650000 Rohingyas were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. Later, Amnesty International withdraws its most prestigious human rights prize from Aung San Suu Kyi, criticising her for not speaking out.
September: Egypt is criticised by human rights groups for imposing death sentences on 75 Egyptians who participated in the 2013 sit-in protests.
October: Turkey accuses Saudi Arabia, and particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, of masterminding the brutal killing of Saudi national and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Also in October, Jair Bolsonaro wins election as the president of Brazil having run a divisive campaign with unparalleled vitriol against women, gays, Afro-Brazilians, and Africans.
Bolsonaro romanticises the country’s former military dictatorship, claiming it failed to kill enough opposition members, and appoints a number of military generals to his cabinet.
December: Long-awaited elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo were scheduled to take place on Sunday but have been delayed amid public discontent over electronic voting machines in a country which has a shortage of electricity supply, and key opposition leaders have been barred from running for office.
The overall trend in 2018 suggests that democracies, human rights, journalists and multilateralism have come under increasing threat, more than at any other time since World War II.