Lawyers on the side of people with disabilities in Ghana
This week, we start in Ghana where lawyers are advocating for stronger inclusion of people with disabilities. Next, we travel to Kenya where HIV-positive orphans face greater health risks due to a US aid freeze. Finally, we stop South Africa where the world’s first openly gay Imam was shot dead in what many believe was a hate crime.
But first, in DR Congo, the M23 rebel group has taken over two major cities, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee. The group claims to be fighting against the persecution of Congolese Tutsis, but its actions tell a different story. The UN and US accuse M23 of war crimes, including sexual violence and killing civilians. Some experts believe the real goal is to control the region’s rich mineral resources.
Congolese Tutsis and the Banyamulenge, a Tutsi sub-group, have faced discrimination for decades—from ethnic killings to being excluded at work. While the government recognizes them as Congolese, many still see them as outsiders, fueling tensions whenever M23 resurfaces.
This latest conflict has made anti-Tutsi sentiment worse. Some Tutsis in the Congolese army have been attacked, and social media is filled with hate speech. While a few Congolese Tutsis support M23, many fear being unfairly labelled as rebels.
President Félix Tshisekedi has condemned hate speech against the Banyamulenge, but the government denies widespread persecution, calling the tensions part of larger tribal conflicts in the country.
With M23 gaining ground and violence escalating, Congolese Tutsis and the Banyamulenge remain caught in the middle—facing both deep-rooted discrimination and the fallout from a rebellion tied to their identity.
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‘Was it supposed to feel like that?’: My experience donating my egg in Nigeria
This piece is the second in a two-part series on egg donation in Nigeria. To read the first part, click here.
After my first visit to the hospital, I went back on Wednesday, November 25, 2020. This was after a back-and-forth with my agent. One of the things that annoyed me about the process was that they rarely gave more than 24-hour notice before you were expected to show up at the clinic. It was inconsiderate. Did the staff of the hospital seem to think that the donors didn’t have jobs? Or lives? You were told to show up the next day and if you didn’t your spot was given to someone else.
Most of the hospital visits were on weekdays and some days we waited hours to be attended to. It was insane. I had to cancel when I was told to go to the hospital on November 24 because it was a busy day for me. I couldn’t possibly leave my job and spend all day at the hospital. They insisted I had to come the next day or lose my spot. Luckily I had very little to do that day so I went.
“I have been treated unfairly”: The harmful traditional practice suppressing women in Nigeria
One Tuesday morning in April 2016, the Easter celebration was around the corner when, at about 3:34 AM, a thunderous knock startled 52-year-old Janet* and her six children. As she struggled with the door bolt, she whispered a prayer to herself, “Lord, not again.”
At the door was Oche*, her 77-year-old husband, who had come home drunk as usual in the company of a strange woman. As soon as he saw Janet, his jaw tightened and his hand curled into a fist. “I told you not to get a job but you are adamant!” he snapped.
Janet was only 17 when she was forced to marry Oche who was 42 in 1987. She had written her Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), the final lap in Nigeria’s basic education system, hoping to be a nurse.
Oche, a civil servant at the time, didn’t allow Janet to learn a skill or further her studies. “Anytime I tried to seek a job, he would threaten me with Aleku, the spirit of justice,” she says.
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Modern slavery and climate change: how extreme weather fuels forced labour and unwanted marriages
Extreme weather events such as flooding, drought, wildfires, water scarcity and rise in sea levels driven by climate change are creating loss of livelihoods. They also displace people and make them more vulnerable. In turn, these factors make people more susceptible to modern slavery.
As livelihoods diminish because of climate change, violent extremist groups and organised criminal networks have preyed on the vulnerable. Terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and al Shabaab have used victims in combat operations or held them in sexual slavery, for instance. Also, families are offsetting the economic effects of climate change by marrying off their children in exchange for dowry and bride price.
In Ghana, human trafficking and labour exploitation have been associated with migration from the north to the country’s south in times of drought.