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Africa’s Approach to Human Rights at the United Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Warren Weinstein
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Extract

International concern with the rights of man is not new. During the 1800s the movement to abolish slavery was an emanation of this concern. In the mid-1800s the International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in reaction to the lack of care for wounded soldiers on battlefield. Under its aegis there developed humanitarian law, both the Law of Geneva and the Law of The Hague.

In the post World War I period, civil and political rights were given international protection in a series of “minorities treaties.” In addition, economic and social rights received international recognition with the creation of the International Labor Organization (I.L.O.) in 1919. Refugees received assistance with the establishment of a High Commissioner for Refugees. It has, however, only been in the post World War II period that international human rights, and their protection, have received extensive recognition.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , Winter 1976 , pp. 14 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1976 

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References

Notes

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2. The Law of Geneva refers to the conventions which provide for the protection and care of the wounded, and for the protection of hospitals and civilian populations. These are the Geneva Conventions of 1846 revised in 1906, 1924, and 1949. The Law of the Hague is found in the Hague Convention of 1900 revised in 1907 and in 1925. These place restrictions on the use of force in wartime.

3. McCarthy, op.cit., p. 5.

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18. Ibid., p. 20; and ECOSOC Res. 1102 (XL), March 4,1966.

19. Commission on Human Rights, Res. 2 (XXII), March 25,1966; and Korey, op.cit., p. 21.

20. Commission on Human Rights, Res. 8 (XXIII), March 16, 1967; and Korey, op.cit., p. 21.

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30. Ibid., p. 259.

31. UN, G A/5047, June 28, 1974.

32. UN, GA/5028, May 24, 1974; and UN, GA/5034, May 30, 1974.

33. Van Dyke, op.cit., pp. 31-40 and pp. 114-115.

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36. E/CN.4/903-E/CN.4/Sub.2/263, 1966, p. 61; and Carey, op.cit., p. 145.

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54. Ibid.

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62. Posner, op.cit.

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64. Humphrey, op.cit.

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66. Yves, op.cit.

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69. Robertson, op.cit., pp. 18-19.

70. Boutros-Ghali, op.cit., p. 54.

71. Ambassador K.Y.Kinene, Letter to H.E. Dr. Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations, March 14,1975.

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74. All Africa Conference of Churches, “Factors Responsible for the Violations of Human Rights in Africa,” paper prepared for the Human Rights Consultation, Khartoum, Sudan, February 16-22, 1975.

75. All Africa Conference of Churches, “Africa’s Refugees,” (Nairobi, 1975).