Morocco hosting UN retreat elevates Africa to human rights rule-maker

 By Gavin Serkin in Rabat, Morocco 

When 20 African leaders from Algeria to Niger demanded accountability in 2010 for the toxic legacy of France’s colonial-era nuclear testing, their pleas went largely unheard. In the face of clear evidence that decades of nuclear tests in Algeria’s Sahara Desert left behind radiation-contaminated land, poisoned water sources, and widespread cancer and congenital defects among local populations, France dismissed demands for reparations, cleanup efforts, and transparency, characterising the issues as historical grievances rather than ongoing human rights violations. Then-President Nicolas Sarkozy asserted that France had turned the page on its colonial past, avoiding direct acknowledgment of the long-term environmental and human toll of nuclear testing 

Contrast this with how environmental catastrophes elsewhere in the world are handled. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989 saw Exxon mobilise billions of dollars for cleanup and compensation. BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 led to a $20 billion settlement to address economic and environmental losses across the Gulf of Mexico. By stark comparison, communities in the Niger Delta have battled Shell for decades over relentless oil spills that have devastated their ecosystems and livelihoods. Though Shell agreed to pay $111 million in damages in 2021, the amount pales in comparison to the reparations seen elsewhere. 

Such inequities underscore why Africans regard the push to reshape global human rights norms as critical. But the difference in perspective is also more fundamental than simply addressing historical reparations. While Western-centric frameworks prioritise individual political freedoms, the agenda from Africa tends to have a much greater focus on collective survival and development. 

From Exclusion to Representation 

It is through this lens that the November 21–22 United Nations Human Rights Council Retreat in Rabat, Morocco, stands as a milestone in Africa’s journey from exclusion to influence in global human rights governance. As the first such event in the Middle East and North Africa region and only the second on African soil since the UNHRC’s establishment in 2006, the retreat’s agenda reflected a growing determination among African nations to reshape human rights frameworks. 

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted in 1948, only four African nations—Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and apartheid-era South Africa—were independent, leaving the continent largely excluded from the process. Today, Africa holds 13 of the UNHRC’s 47 seats, tied with Asia as the largest regional bloc. This shift enables growing geopolitical influence on issues that disproportionately affect the Global South. 

At the retreat’s opening plenary, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita issued a clarion call for change: “Africa no longer wishes to be limited to being a mere consumer and recipient of international standards but aspires to become an influential player and producer of these standards.”  

This mission will ultimately help redefine global human rights frameworks to better reflect realities and priorities in the global South, underscoring a collective concern that critical issues—ranging from the environmental toll of global warming to systemic underdevelopment—cannot be adequately addressed by frameworks designed primarily by the developed world. A global South human rights agenda places greater emphasis on issues such as mitigating climate change and securing access to clean water. Technological inclusion becomes a central tenet of human rights, in parallel to freedom of speech or assembly. 

African priorities on issues from economic inclusion to discrimination and xenophobia are fundamental to global human rights frameworks staying relevant and contributing to a just global order, Omar Zniber, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and President of the Human Rights Council, told me in an interview during the retreat. “Africa has a lot of resources to offer, a lot of experience to share,” said Zniber. “It should not be seen as just problematic; to the contrary, it is essential for the future.”  

Africa’s increased presence in the UNHRC is helping shift the dynamics to ensure principles are applied in a “consistent, principled, and non-discriminatory way,” said Phil Lynch, Executive Director of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), a Geneva and New York-based non-profit organisation which provides support to human rights missions. “Africa’s focus on development-related rights like access to technology and environmental justice challenges traditional frameworks, making its contributions essential.”  

Diplomatic Ambition 

Even before the Rabat retreat, Morocco had leveraged its rotating presidency of the UNHRC to amplify African-led solutions. It played a central role in establishing the African Network for the Prevention of Torture in 2023 and has been a vocal advocate for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process that requires member states to report on their human rights record every four years.  

For now, both these UNHRC mechanisms appear relatively toothless. While the UPR has exposed systemic abuses—such as mass detentions in Egypt and extrajudicial killings in Cameroon—watchdogs report no significant progress in converting criticism to positive change. Multiple countries continue to flout recommendations, raising questions about the UPR’s ability to drive real accountability. 

These and other human rights concerns within the continent—from Ethiopia’s Tigray region to Uganda, where suppression of journalists and political opposition remains pervasive—might prompt questions on the real agenda. The key risk to avoid is enabling an appearance of progress on human rights through nominal participation in UN processes to throw a veil over abuses. Yet such concerns are hardly unique to Africa. The US has faced scrutiny for systemic racial discrimination, and mistreatment of migrants is a common complaint to governments across Europe and America. Such challenges underscore the global struggle for human rights accountability.  

The additionality from an African human rights agenda is to prioritise issues underrepresented in Western frameworks, such as climate justice and technological equity. Despite contributing less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, African nations face some of the world’s most severe climate impacts, including droughts in the Horn of Africa, flooding in Mozambique, and desertification in the Sahel. These crises exacerbate poverty, displace millions, and fuel resource-driven conflicts.  

In this context, an African human rights agenda demands recognition of a healthy environment as an essential human right. Access to technology is another rapidly evolving major concern. Limited internet connectivity stifles telemedicine, leaving rural communities without access to basic healthcare, and places limits on education and financial inclusion. Water rights is a further key area, focusing, for example, on contamination by mining operations.  

It is these and other daily challenges that underpin Africa’s desire to redefine human rights in a way that focuses attention on equity and survival. It is in this context that the Rabat retreat represents a pivotal moment: an Africa seeking not just to participate in global human rights governance but to lead it.  

*Gavin Serkin is the author of Frontier: Exploring the Top Ten Emerging Markets of Tomorrow, and a Journalist and Consultant on emerging & frontier markets, with particular focus on Africa and the Middle East