Agency / Realising Human Rights in African Cities

Most discussions on the origin of human rights refer to the global North, the formation of the UN in 1945 and the adoption of the first international human rights instrument – the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), three years later. Today, the UDHR remains one of the most influential human rights instruments across the world, having influenced the inclusion of human rights provisions in many national constitutions, and further human rights instruments. However, there is debate around viewing various elements of human rights as indigenous to many societies in the global South, including African societies, albeit articulated differently.


In recent years, there is increasing criticism of the exclusion of global South countries in the processes to develop the UDHR, which thereby excluded perspectives and iterations from these contexts. This has led to the tension between advocates for universalism and cultural relativists. This debate is a reminder of the need to reflect from an African centered lens about the origin of human rights. Doing this requires asking difficult and uncomfortable questions. Are human rights foreign to Africa? Did the fabric of pre-colonial African societies and cities have elements of human rights embedded in them? Was there observance of human rights which predated colonial Africa in our cities? Is it true that the historical evolution of human rights can be traced only to the North? What contribution has Africa made to the evolution and understanding of human rights in today’s cities and societies?


This session attempts to spotlight these questions through multiple lenses in today’s African cities. It brings on board advocates of varied voices in today’s African cities including women, children and persons with disabilities, to share different processes by which champions are enabling both differing and collective voice in urban development