Colonial and Post-Colonial Antecedents of Minority Rights Issues in Africa
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2009
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Abstract
This paper contends that a comprehensive analysis of minority rights in the African context is located in the continent
’s brush with colonialism which found active support in the
liberal/conservative approach to international law. At the time of independence, African leaders had the opportunity to reverse these trends, particularly as they sought to create tension within the existing international legal framework and to chart a new path for international law that foregrounds the interests of developing countries. Yet, Africa rather sought to perpetuate the policies of homogenisation, modernisation and evolution embedded in liberalism which in turn led to marginalisation, discrimination and disenfranchisement of minority groups. It is the position of the paper that unless these colonial-postcolonial antecedents are properly exposed, minority rights in Africa would not be effectively contextualised and addressed.