Human rights and Democratic futures: Reflections from West and Central Africa

In West and Central Africa, the human rights movement faces a critical question: how to defend rights in societies where citizens doubt whether democracy and institutions are improving their lives. This is especially true amidst democratic aspirations, military interventions, constitutional disputes, extremism, economic exclusion, and encroachments on civic freedoms.

These regions boast strong traditions of civic resistance, community solidarity, women's leadership, and youth mobilisation. However, the recent gathering on the future of human rights in the region offers an opportunity to reconsider assumptions, approaches, and institutional frameworks that have dominated the field for the past three decades.

Claude Ake, a Nigerian political economist, warned that a democracy reduced to periodic elections risks becoming the "democratisation of disempowerment." Similarly, Indian jurist Upendra Baxi emphasized that the legitimacy of human rights should be measured by their ability to alleviate human suffering, not just by the elegance of legal norms.

Across West and Central Africa, democratic transitions in the 1990s brought optimism, but political liberalisation did not consistently translate into economic progress, social inclusion, or responsive governance. For many citizens, democracy remains distant from the realities of unemployment, insecurity, inadequate public services, corruption, and unequal access to opportunities.

Rights presented as legal guarantees and procedural protections may seem disconnected from the daily struggles of ordinary people. Young people who can vote but cannot find dignified employment, women whose constitutional equality is guaranteed but whose economic opportunities and safety remain unmet, and rural communities living with persistent insecurity all highlight the need to understand rights alongside economic, social, cultural, and collective rights.

The challenge lies not in replacing one category of rights with another, but in recovering their indivisibility. Rights that fail to address human suffering will not command allegiance. As the state increasingly becomes both protector and source of insecurity, particularly in the Sahel, the relationship between citizens and the state faces significant strain.

This tension is further complicated by the presence of military authorities invoking national security and sovereignty, civilian governments restricting dissent, and non-state actors posing threats to citizens.