Climate Change and the Modern Slavery Conundrum in Africa: Reimagining the Relevance of Human Rights Law

Ogunniyi, Daniel

Abstract

Although climate change is among the main ecological crisis the world is grappling with today, relevant discourses on the subject often focus exclusively on the existential threats it presents ignoring other associated risks, including how it exacerbates modern slavery vulnerabilities. Despite already constituting a major human rights challenge, climate change promises to further exacerbate the modern slavery conundrum in Africa. Thus, in this paper, two interconnected questions are engaged with. Firstly, the climate crisis is interrogated vis-à-vis the way it induces modern slavery vulnerabilities in Africa and undermines human rights. The second aspect assesses the utility of the human rights framework in climate change action and its potential to protect modern slavery victims. While African countries are obligated to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies within their jurisdictions, to effectively address the modern slavery challenge, the paper suggests a stronger focus on global climate action via international cooperation and debt-for-nature swap.

Citation

Ogunniyi, D. (2024). Climate Change and the Modern Slavery Conundrum in Africa: Reimagining the Relevance of Human Rights Law. Human Rights Law Review, 24(1), Article ngad043. https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngad043

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 5, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 24, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 25, 2026
• Journal: Human Rights Law Review
• Print ISSN: 1461-7781
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: ngad043
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngad043
• Keywords: Africa; Modern slavery; Human rights; Human trafficking; Climate change; Debt-for-nature swap
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4520402