Dr. Jennifer Mike Heaven, an Assistant Professor of Law at AUN, was in Pisa, Italy, to give a presentation at a conference that took place at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna).
The conference with the theme 'China and Europe in the African Continent: Economic, Legal, and Political Perspectives' lasted from November 29 to December 2, 2023, in Pisa, Italy.
Dr. Jennifer’s paper titled 'Africa and China Debt-Trap Diplomacy: Implications for Human Rights in the Continent' contended that predatory lending practices, so-called ‘debt-trap diplomacy,’ huge debt from multilateral institutions, countries, and private creditors such as China, unsustainable loans with onerous default conditions, investments that serve to foster political authority, treaties, and trading relations with unequal partners have set the African continent on a course that invariably threatens its development prospects.
Dr. Mike maintained that while multilateral relations, treaties, loans, and investments represent major opportunities for African countries to boost growth, alleviate poverty, build infrastructure, and broaden their economies, they could also constrain development prospects and undermine the capacity of poorer African countries to create the conditions for the realization of human rights, particularly economic, social, and cultural rights, including the right to development.
She stated that studies have shown that debt repayment is often carried out at the expense of basic human rights, including the rights to food, health, education, adequate housing, and work.
In addition, debt servicing and harmful conditions linked to loans and debt relief often limit investment and undermine the provision of essential public services.
She also buttressed the point that human rights can be used as measuring tools to assess, measure, and prevent the impact of such relations and assistance. “Directly integrating human rights into foreign relations will make the government and its partners accountable for upholding human rights and ensuring that such relations do not affect socio-economic development as well as civil and political rights,” she concluded.
Reported by John Abah