The Council for Afrika, a think-tank in the United Kingdom says for the past two years, members have called for a state of emergency in Africa, to stem the tide of rapid socio- economic deterioration.
A statement signed by Dr Koku Adomdza, President of the Council said across the world, citizens were calling for the ditching of narrow democracy that enriched only a minority, with widening democracy which guaranteed fundamental and socio-economic rights of the majority.
It said full employment, education, health, crime, poverty eradication and civil rights had become legitimate demands and responsibilities of leadership by the people.
“This is a new reality of the 21st Century, which African as well as Global Leadership must grasp firm and fast, for the benefit of human civilisation.
“The January 2011 insurrection in parts of the African Continent and regrettably preventable injury, loss of human life and the pathetically slow response by the international community to the crises in Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Egypt justify Afrika International’s call and necessitates the need to rapidly put in place an appropriately responsive international human rights framework, to protect the most priceless of all human treasures and the most fundamental of human rights – human life on the African Continent.
“Political office and political power do not take precedence over human rights, human lives nor civil liberties; and those with the responsibility and privilege to govern must not be in a position to compromise human rights, rather a responsibility to protect them…
“As such the Council for Afrika International condemns unequivocally any human fatalities and injuries that results in the exercise of civil rights, including the hundreds lost of lives and (more) than 2,000 injured in the Egyptian insurrection. We (Council) appeal for peaceful resolution through the application of wisely-counselled leadership to protect fundamental human rights, and manifest social and economic rights in Egypt and across the world.
The statement said it was completely objectionable that armed security forces should be unleashed against unarmed citizens in the exercise of the right to peaceful demonstration and protest.
It said it was also critical that the January 2011 uprisings in Africa were properly described as not simply and narrowly political unrests as the headlines suggest, but triggered by the neglect and abuse of fundamental human, economic and social rights.
“Moreover, it is undesirable for any extreme and fundamentalist tendencies, regardless of their sources and motivations, infiltrate, undermine and abuse the legitimate and genuine aspirations of the aggrieved peoples.
“As the first international new-paradigms, victim’s led, qualified change-driven human rights think and doing tanks, we have an ethical responsibility to condemn any injury and loss of human life wherever they occur in the world.
“We reiterate the sanctity of human life as superior above all other rights and as the cardinal responsibility of those in authority and leadership. We further emphasise that for global peace, coexistence and the advancement of human civilisation, human rights abusers, be they in power or not, must not go unpunished in the 21st Century.”
The statement said it was critical to observe that the key undercurrents of the January 2011 unrests were the compromise of the fundamental human and socio-economic rights of citizens of the people, of which the protests were consequences; not causes.
The primary causes appear to be the failure of leadership to honour the rights of the people, who are the legitimate source of political mandate.
“World history teaches that wherever fundamental and socio-economic rights are consistently abused by those in government, rather than promote and preserve human rights, it is only a matter of time for explosive culmination into public and, or popular unrests, protests and insurrections.
“Equally important, is the fact that the undercurrents which have led to the January 2011 unrests are not only limited to Ivory Coast, Tunisia or Egypt but have global resonance within the context of the greed- and negligence-driven global economic recession and so we call for a holistic perspective and reflection on these worrying developments that unfold at such breathtakingly fast pace.
“All over the world, and in varying degrees and compositions, human rights and socio-economic rights of global citizens are but have global resonance within the context of the greed- and negligence-driven global economic recession and so we call for a holistic perspective and reflection on these worrying developments that unfold at such breathtakingly fast pace.
The statement reiterated that the current generation of African leadership must understand that the only way to justify their rule was to deliver the much promised economic prosperity at political independence from colonialism, which had failed to materialise for more than 50 years.
“The mood of the youth, who are the heirs of tomorrow, must be understood – that they will settle for nothing less. African Leadership must understand this reality and adopt radically proactive Patriotic African Leadership and Economic Liberation Paradigms in which the electorate are key stakeholders, to justify their governance and to ensure stability on the continent.
“At stake in the 21st Century is the ability and capability of global leadership to rapidly eradicate the concerns of unemployment, poverty, high food prices, corruption, bureaucracy, direct and indirect violation of human rights including asphyxiation of dissent; while enjoying the trappings of power and state privileges,” the statement said.
Afrika International stresses that global and African leaders must re-adjust to the reality of heightened human rights awareness in the 21st Century, spurred on by the power of technology, not excluding social networks sites, to salvage the deepening divide between politics and the aspirations of the electorate all over the world.
“Where politicians see themselves as servants of the electorate rather than rulers over the governed; rulers rule while leaders serve.
“The era of politics as a means of self-enrichment, self-aggrandisement, history-book fame and contemptible treatment of the electorate has become an anachronism, an outdated characteristic of the 20th Century and those leaders who do not avail themselves of the opportunities inherent risk riding the tides.
“An embrace of healthy human rights-oriented democratic change looks set to be a win-win, for a new culture of pro-majority citizens’ leadership in the 21st Century, stability, human rights, peace and human civilisation,” the statement concluded.