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Article: Ethnocentrism in Africa.(challenges to human rights administration)
- Article from:
- UN Chronicle
- Article date:
- June 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 United Nations Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A starting point in the global drive towards defeating racism is ethnocentrism. Aggressive ethnocentrism results in serious and large-scale violation of rights based on origin, gender, language and religion. Africa has played scene to many of these ethnic uprisings and genocide. Memories left behind by the horror of these ethnic conflicts m Burundi, Rwanda and elsewhere are still fresh. And when the struggle is not centred on ethnicity, it narrows down to tribalism and at times even conflicts among clans as happened in Somalia.
The 350 different ethnic or linguistic groups that populate Nigeria, for instance, are each seeking self-determination and cultural ...