Regional

The impact of the global financial crisis on the realisation of socio-economic rights in sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis based on the Millennium Development Goals framework and processes

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Author: Nicholas Orago

Abstract: The global financial crisis, which affected global trade and investment, did not leave sub-Saharan Africa untouched. The region registered a decline in economic growth in the period after the crisis and experienced ongoing impacts. The article looks at these impacts, focusing on the realisation of socio- economic rights in sub-Saharan Africa using the mechanism of the Millennium Development Goals. It begins by describing the major actors that have played a leading role in economic growth in the region, and the realisation of socio- economic rights. It then focuses on the pre-crisis growth period of 2000 to 2007, examining the drivers of growth in sub-Saharan Africa and how this growth impacted the realisation of socio-economic rights. The article uses the mechanism of the Millenium Development Goals framework and process to measure the achievement of each goal within a high growth period. It finds that while this growth created more resources for the realisation of socio-economic rights, little progress was made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals within that period: The socio-economic conditions of poor, vulnerable and marginalised individuals and groups remained the same. The article then looks at the effects of the global financial crisis on sub-Saharan African economies after 2007, indicating that the crisis had an adverse impact on economic growth, with growth declining to 5.5 per cent in 2008, 3.5 per cent in 2009 and then rebounding slightly to 5.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014 and further to 5.8 per cent in 2015. It says that, although the reduction in economic growth had a great impact on the availability of resources for the realisation of socio- economic rights, an analysis of the MDG progress after the crisis does not show a marked difference from the MDG progress prior to the crisis. The article concludes that, even though the crisis had some impact on the realisation of socio-economic rights, its impact would have been greatly lessened if these sub- Saharan African countries had shown political commitment and developed proper mechanisms for the realisation of these rights.

Key words: sub-Saharan Africa; economic growth; global financial crisis; economic and social rights realisation; Millennium Development Goals

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Market might in Factory Asia: The struggle to protect labour

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Authors: Matthew Mullen, Purwo Santoso, Joash Tapiheru, Elisabeth Valiente-Riedl

Abstract: ‘Factory Asia’ pejoratively frames a situation of oversupply in low- skilled and underpaid wage labour, where people work in immiserating conditions, deprived of essential opportunities for political organising and the right to freedom of association. The context is such, in part, because the market enjoys considerable leverage and might over states and labour in the region. A range of factors, including capital mobility, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and global neo-liberal pressures, combine to dislocate the state from its role as protectorate and provider, and foreclose on conventional channels that offer protection for workers. This article frames and illustrates these dynamics, and argues that labour encounters a myriad of challenges, but also new opportunities for re-articulation, mobilisation and protection around labour rights. Two case studies, those of Indonesia and Thailand, provide empirical grounding for this thesis and convey both commonalities and contrasts in local labour struggles. In Indonesia, the increasing dislocation of the state needs to be understood in the context of the manifestation of a dual labour market. This has produced contrasting experiences of informal and formal workers. Accordingly, the resilience of traditional models of labour mobilisation (such as unions) diminishes compared to the growing relevance of informal and collective social protection systems. In Thailand, union advocates remain adamant about the need to realise international labour rights norms precisely because of deepening union restrictions and the state’s reluctance to fulfil its duties. Meanwhile, other labour rights groups have sought space, protection and action from duty bearers through non-traditional methods. Relations between these networks can be tense, but they combine into a formidable, even if uncertain, force. In both case studies, the dislocation of the state has led to new and thickening vulnerabilities for labour working in the shadow of the market, but also to unconventional opportunities for protection and mobility.

Key words: labour rights; labour mobilisation; Asia; Indonesia; Thailand

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The economic crisis, debt and the impact on human rights: Eastern Partnership countries

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Authors: Vahan Bournazian, Mane Torosyan, Jolita Staselyte, Bogdan Banjac, Olga Chertilina


Abstract: The article explores the nexus between the economic crisis, foreign debt and the impact on human rights as it has manifested in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region since the beginning of the 2008 ‘global economic crisis’. That an economic crisis requires states to borrow internationally is not novel. By researching and developing case studies for all but one of the EaP countries, and then engaging in a comparative analysis of the case studies, the article seeks to explore, in the EaP context, the extent and legitimacy of borrowing, the impact on human rights of the economic crisis and/or debt, and the degree to which national debt frameworks of EaP countries comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Foreign Debt and Human Rights. As for the nexus between human rights, economics and debt, this dynamic is founded in the fact that human rights values the equality of individuals and, in the socio-economic context, this may be expressed in terms of equal opportunity, which must be ensured and fomented by the state – often through the expenditure of public resources. As a developed society is best conceived of as a collective of developed individuals, and as equal opportunity is foundational to individual development, phenomena which curtail the equal opportunity of individuals necessarily impact negatively on the human rights regime. It is generally accepted that several factors influence an individual’s equal opportunity for development: civil and political rights; economic facilities (for instance employment opportunities,fair remuneration); social opportunities (for instance education); transparency/ accountability (for instance the rule of law); and protective securities (for instance healthcare and social welfare). It is in this broad context that the article considers increasing poverty and the degradation in socio-economic rights as having a negative impact on equal opportunity and on human rights, and explores this impact as a derivative of the economic crisis and foreign debt.

Key words: Eastern Partnership; economic crisis; foreign debt; human rights; UN Guiding Principles on Foreign Debt and Human Rights

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The impact of the economic crisis on human rights in Europe and the accountability of international institutions

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Authors: Lisa Ginsborg

Abstract: The impact of austerity measures in Europe on human rights has now been widely documented by international and regional bodies and scholars working in the area. The article begins its investigation by briefly examining the impact of austerity measures adopted by European states on human rights standards, with a particular emphasis on the cases of those Eurozone states in bail-louts. The second part of the article investigates the role of international institutions in the austerity measures in Europe, and the institutional framework underlying the bailout measures in the Eurozone. It places a particular emphasis on the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), now established as a permanent crisis resolution mechanism. In this context, the article exposes a number of problems linked to the absence of accountability of the ESM, including its democratic deficit, technocratic rule and lack of transparency. At the heart of the article are questions around the degree of autonomy left to states in the context of austerity measures, and whether a certain degree of responsibility for the human rights violations resulting from these measures may be attributed directly to the institutions driving the conditionality agenda. The main legal framework will be international law, both international human rights law and international institutional law, which is still lagging behind in terms of direct accountability of international organisations for human rights violations, but remains a rich and useful field from which to derive a number of conclusions about the human rights responsibility of international institutions. The article concludes with a number of recommendations aimed directly at the international institutions in their imposition of austerity measures.

Key words: bailout; Eurozone; human rights; austerity measures; accountability; European Stability Mechanism

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Violence in transition: Reforms and rights in the Western Balkans

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Authors: Rachel Kurian, Ewa Charkiewicz

Abstract: The 1990s saw the breakdown of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which, since World War II, had developed a distinct economic system that included specific market and socialist self-management principles in production, distribution and decision-making processes. At the same time, the European Union opened up the possibility of full membership if these countries – now politically referred to as the Western Balkans – met the accession criteria claimed as essential to bring about fully-functioning and competitive market economies. The transition and accession processes were supported financially, politically and militarily by Western powers as a shift away from authoritarianism and poverty, while promoting democracy, human rights and individual freedom. This article argues that, contrary to this optimistic discourse, transition in the Western Balkans reflected and incorporated violence at different levels. The article shows that tensions between reforms and rights began in the 1970s, spurred by indebtedness and inequalities, pervading the transition process and deteriorating in the wake of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. Social policy increasingly became framed along market- efficiency principles, challenging existing entitlements and rights, particularly with regard to education, social security and health. Vulnerable groups, such as the unemployed and the aged, experienced serious shortfalls in support and care. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, social protests against the deterioration in the levels of livelihood and the retrogression of social rights had erupted in several places. Violence was expressed not only in the form of direct bodily harm, but also in control exerted through indebtedness, the destruction of livelihoods, the denial of basic human rights, and the struggle for social justice.

Key words: Western Balkans; transition; debt; social rights; financial crisis

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