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

Ogunniyi, Daniel

Authors



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
Electronic ISSN 1744-1021
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