Introduction to African Slavery

Slavery

The institution of slavery as it existed in Africa, and the effects of world slave-trade systems on African people and societies. As in most of the world, slavery, or involuntary human servitude, was practiced across Africa from prehistoric times to the modern era. When we talk about slavery, many envision the form in which it existed in the United States before the American Civil War (1861-1865): one racially identifiable group owning and exploiting another. However, in other parts of the world, slavery was in many different forms. In Africa, many societies recognized slaves merely as property, but others saw them as dependents who eventually might be integrated into the families of slave owners. Still other societies allowed slaves to attain positions of military or administrative power. Most often, both slave owners and slaves were black Africans, although they were frequently of different ethnic groups.

Traditionally, African slaves were bought to perform menial or domestic labor, to serve as wives or concubines, or to enhance the status of the slave owner. Traditional African practices of slavery were altered to some extent beginning in the 7th century by two non-African groups of slave traders: Arab Muslims and Europeans. From the 7th to the 20th century, Arab Muslims raided and traded for black African slaves in West, Central, and East Africa, sending thousands of slaves each year to North Africa and parts of Asia. From the 15th to the 19th century, Europeans bought millions of slaves in West, Central, and East Africa and sent them to Europe; the Caribbean; and North, Central, and South America. These two overlapping waves of transcontinental slave trading made the slave trade central to the economies of many African states and threatened many more Africans with enslavement.

Slavery within African soceity

The pratice of slavery existed in some earliest organized soceities in Africa, about 3,500 years ago, ancient Egyptians raided their neighbouring soceities for slavery, and the buying and selling of slaves were regular activities in cities along the Nile River. However, whereas the Egyptians left behind written records of their activities, most other early African states and societies did not. Therefore, our understanding of slavery in other parts of Africa is based on tales and oral histories from aged ones and on much more recent observations of African traditions regarding slavery and kinship.

Origin of Slavery in Africa

Slaves

As in many places around the world, early slavery likely resulted from warring groups taking captives. Such captives were of little use, and often some bother, when kept close to their homes because of the ease of escape. Therefore, they were often sold and transported to more distant places.

Warfare was not the only reason for the practice of slavery in Africa, however. In many African societies, slavery represented one of the few methods of producing wealth available to common people. Throughout the African continent there was little recognition of rights to private landholding until colonial officials began imposing European law in the 19th century. Land was typically held communally by villages or large clans and was allotted to families according to their need. The amount of land a family needed was determined by the number of laborers that family could marshal to work the land. To increase production, a family had to invest in more laborers and thus increase their share of land. The simplest and quickest way to do this was to invest in slaves. To help service this demand, many early African societies conducted slave raids on distant villages.

Effects of Slavery in Africa

• The spread of Islam from Arabia into Africa after the religion’s founding in the 7th century ad affected the practice of slavery and slave trading in West, Central, and East Africa.
• The demand for labor increased as plantation agriculture developed in the region, the East African slave trade increased dramatically.
• The culture of the East African coastal regions was strongly influenced by Arab and Persian traders, many of whom intermarried with Africans, thus producing the Swahili people and culture.
• Neighboring states competed with one another for trade, leading to wars, which in turn led to the capture of more slaves.
• As the demand for slaves grew, so did the practice of systematic slave raiding, which increased in scope and efficiency with the introduction of firearms to Africa in the 17th century.
• Historians estimate that between 1.5 and 2 million slaves died during the journey to the New World.
• In most of Africa, slavery became a more central, structural element of African life, as rulers and wealthy elites sought to accumulate more and more slaves, for sale as well as for their own use.

End of Slavery in Africa

As humanitarian sentiments grew in Western Europe with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment and as European economic interests shifted slowly from agriculture to industry, a movement to abolish the slave trade and the practice of slavery came into being in the Western world. In 1807 the slave trade was outlawed in Britain and the United States.

The ending of the slave trade and slavery in Africa had wide-ranging effects on the African continent. Many societies that for centuries had participated in an economy based on slave labor and the trading of slaves had difficulty finding new ways to organize labor and gain wealth. Meanwhile, colonial governments in Africa that outwardly disapproved of slavery still needed inexpensive laborers for agriculture, industry, and other work projects. As a result, African leaders and former slave owners, as well as colonial officials, often developed methods of coercing Africans to work without pay or for minimal compensation. Moreover, the outlawing of slavery did not erase the pain and stigma of having been a slave. Many descendants of slaves were affected by this stigma for generations after slavery was abolished.

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The Kyoto Protocol was an agreement negotiated by many countries in December 1997 and came into force with Russia’s ratification on February 16, 2005.

Participating countries that have ratified (which is an important term that I’ll clarify) the Kyoto Protocol have committed to cut emissions of not only carbon dioxide, but of also other greenhouse gases, being:

Methane (CH₄)
Nitrous oxide (N₂O)
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆)

If participant countries continue with emissions above the targets, then they are required to engage in emissions trading; i.e. buying “credits” from other participant countries who are able to exceed their reduction targets in order to offset.

The goals of Kyoto were to see participants collectively reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% below the emission levels of 1990 by 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

BACKGROUND

At a conference held December 1 – 11 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to an historic Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by harnessing the forces of the global marketplace to protect the environment.The Kyoto Protocol in key respects — including emissions targets and timetables for industrialized nations and market-based measures for meeting those targets — reflects proposals advanced by the United States. The Protocol makes a down payment on the meaningful participation of developing countries, but more needs to be done in this area. Securing meaningful developing country participation remains a core U.S. goal.

EMISSIONS TARGETS

A central feature of the Kyoto Protocol is a set of binding emissions targets for developed nations. The specific limits vary from country to country, though those for the key industrial powers of the European Union, Japan, and the United States are similar — 8% below 1990 emissions levels for the EU, 7% for the U.S., 6% for Japan.

The framework for these emissions targets is based largely on U.S. proposals:

• Emissions targets are to be reached over a five-year budget period as proposed by the U.S., rather than by a single year. Allowing emissions to be averaged across a budget period increases flexibility by helping to smooth out short-term fluctuations in economic performance or weather, either of which could spike emissions in a particular year.
• The first budget period will be the U.S. proposal of 2008-2012. The Parties rejected proposals favored by others, including budget periods beginning as early as 2003, that were neither realistic nor achievable. Having a full decade before the start of the binding period will allow more time for U. S. companies to make the transition to greater energy efficiency and/or lower carbon technologies.
• The emissions targets include all six major greenhouse gases. The EU and Japan initially favored counting only three gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Ensuring the inclusion of the additional gases (synthetic substitutes for ozone-depleting CFCs) that are highly potent and long-lasting in the atmosphere provides more comprehensive environmental protection and lends more certainty concerning the treatment of the additional gases.
• Activities that absorb carbon, such as planting trees, will be offset against emissions targets. The treatment of these so-called “sinks” was another controversial issue at Kyoto. Many countries wanted sinks to be excluded. The United States insisted that they be included in the interest of encouraging activities like afforestation and reforestation. Accounting for the role of forests is critical to a comprehensive and environmentally responsible approach to climate change. It also provides the private sector with low-cost opportunities to reduce emissions.

Is the target the United States agreed to actually 7% lower than what the President proposed in October?

No. The 7% target represents at most a 3% real reduction below the President’s initial proposal of reducing greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2008-2012. The remaining 4 percentage points result from certain changes in the way gases and sinks are calculated and do not reflect any increase in effort as compared to the President’s original proposal.

Changing the baseline for the three synthetic greenhouse gasses from 1990 to 1995 accounts for about 1% of the 7% reduction. Use of these three gases has grown since 1990, so that permitting a 1995 baseline allows for a higher overall baseline than the Administration assumed last October when the President announced his goal of reaching 1990 levels by 2008-2012. Making reductions to meet a higher baseline is of course easier than making reductions to meet a lower baseline. Had the United States maintained the same level of effort assumed by the President in October, and no other factors had changed, the shift to a 1995 baseline for the three synthetic gases would, alone, have transformed the President’s goal of 1990 levels into a goal equivalent to 1% below 1990 levels.

Altering the accounting method for carbon-absorbing activities, such as planting trees, accounts for about 3% of the 7% reduction. The President’s original goal assumed that the 1990 baseline would be lowered by carbon-absorbing activities, but under the method agreed in Kyoto, such activities do not lower the 1990 baseline. Because the 1990 level baseline is thus higher under the Kyoto agreement, the U.S. target becomes somewhat less stringent. Specifically, had the U.S. maintained the same level of effort assumed by the President in October, and no other factors had changed, the shift in the accounting method for carbon-absorbing activities would, alone, have transformed the President’s goal of 1990 levels into a goal equivalent to at least 3% below 1990 levels. (As noted above, certain carbon-absorbing activities will count against emission reduction commitments in the budget period.)

INTERNATIONAL EMISSIONS TRADINGThe United States prevailed in securing acceptance of emissions trading among nations with emissions targets. This free market approach, pioneered in the U.S., will allow countries to seek out the cheapest emissions reductions, substantially lowering costs for the U.S. and others.

Under an emissions trading regime, countries or companies can purchase less expensive emissions permits from countries that have more permits than they need (because they have met their targets with room to spare). Structured effectively, emissions trading can provide a powerful economic incentive to cut emissions while also allowing important flexibility for taking cost-effective actions.

The Kyoto Protocol enshrines emissions trading. Rules and guidelines — in particular for verification, reporting, and accountability — are to be discussed at the next meeting of the Parties at Buenos Aires in November 1998.

The inclusion of emissions trading in the Kyoto Protocol reflects an important decision to address climate change through the flexibility of market mechanisms. Led by the United States, the Conference rejected proposals to require all Parties with targets to impose specific mandatory measures, such as energy taxes.

The United States also reached a conceptual agreement with a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and Ukraine, to pursue an umbrella group to trade emissions permits. Such a trading group could further contribute to cost-effective solutions to this problem.

JOINT IMPLEMENTATION AMONG DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Countries with emissions targets may get credit towards their targets through project-based emission reductions in other such countries. The private sector may participate in these activities.

Additional details may be agreed upon by the Parties at future meetings.

CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM

Another important free market component of the Kyoto Protocol is the so-called “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM). The CDM embraces the U.S. proposal for “joint implementation for credit” in developing countries.

With the Clean Development Mechanism, developed countries will be able to use certified emissions reductions from project activities in developing countries to contribute to their compliance with greenhouse gas reduction targets.

This Clean Development Mechanism will allow companies in the developed world to enter into cooperative projects to reduce emissions in the developing world — such as the construction of high-tech, environmentally sound power plants — for the benefit of both parties. The companies will be able to reduce emissions at lower costs than they could at home, while developing countries will be able to receive the kind of technology that can allow them to grow more sustainably. The CDM will certify and score projects. The CDM can also allow developing countries to bring projects forward in circumstances where there is no immediate developed country partner.

Under the Clean Development Mechanism, companies can choose to make investments in projects or to buy emissions reductions. In addition, Parties will ensure that a small portion of proceeds be used to help particularly vulnerable developing countries, such as island states, adapt to the environmental consequences of climate change.

Importantly, certified emissions reductions achieved starting in the year 2000 can count toward compliance with the first budget period. This means that private companies in the developed world will be able to benefit from taking early action.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Various Protocol provisions, taken together, represent a down payment on developing country participation in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

• Developing countries will be engaged through the Clean Development Mechanism, noted above.
• The Protocol advances the implementation by all Parties of their commitments under the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. For example, the Protocol identifies various sectors (including the energy, transport, and industry sectors as well as agriculture, forestry, and waste management) in which actions should be considered in developing national programs to combat climate change and provides for more specific reporting on actions taken.

Developing countries may, as a prerequisite for engaging in emissions trading, voluntarily assume binding emissions targets through amendment to the annex of the Protocol that lists countries with targets. The Kyoto Protocol does not include a separate article for nations to voluntarily assume binding emissions targets.

Securing meaningful participation from key developing countries remains a priority for the United States. The Administration has stated that without such participation, it will not submit the Kyoto Protocol to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification.

MILITARY EMISSIONS

The Kyoto Protocol achieves the objectives identified by the Department of Defense where international agreement was necessary to protect U.S. military operations.

• Emissions from “bunker” fuels (for international maritime or aviation use) are exempted from emissions limits.
• Emissions from multilateral operations pursuant to the United Nations Charter are exempted from emissions limits. This includes not only multilateral operations expressly authorized by the UN Security Council (such as Desert Storm, Bosnia, Somalia) but also multilateral operations not expressly authorized that are nonetheless pursuant to the UN Charter, such as Grenada.
• Countries may decide, among themselves, how to account for emissions relating to multilateral operations (for example, U.S. training in another NATO country). This provision avoids the need to use emissions trading to allocate such emissions.

COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT

The Protocol contains several provisions intended to promote compliance. These include requirements related to measurement of greenhouse gases, reporting, and review of implementation.

The Protocol also contains certain consequences for failure to meet obligations. For example, as a result of a U.S.-proposed provision, a Party not in compliance with its measurement and reporting requirements cannot receive credit for joint implementation projects.

Effective procedures and a mechanism to determine and address non-compliance are to be decided at a later meeting. For both environmental and competitiveness reasons, the United States will be working on proposals to strengthen the compliance and enforcement regime under the Protocol.

ENTRY INTO FORCE

The Kyoto Protocol will be open for signature in March 1998. To enter into force, it must be ratified by at least 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 percent of the total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions of developed countries. U.S. ratification will require the advice and consent of the Senate.

Kyoto Dispute Threatens Climate Conference

Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed addresses Klima Forum 09, the people's climate summit, in Copenhagen, 14 Dec 2009

African delegates are back at the climate change talks in Copenhagen after a brief walkout Monday to protest what they said were efforts by rich nations to undermine the current global warming treaty and weaken a new agreement

African negotiators briefly walked out of climate talks in Copenhagen, angered by what they consider efforts to sideline poor nations and weaken support for a binding deal.  The talks have since resumed as delegates race to draft a global agreement at the final week of the climate conference.

African negotiators in Copenhagen expressed dismay at what they said were efforts to water down global-warming talks, saying binding emission reductions targets are essential.  At a morning press conference, they said the interests of poor nations on the front lines of climate change are being ignored.  And they warned against attempts to sideline the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 and does set binding reductions targets.

One African negotiator said dismissing the so-called Kyoto track means the death of Africa.

“As you all know, Africa is the most vulnerable continent,” one African negotiator said.  “And in this process, the Kyoto Protocol is of paramount importance to us.  In this regard we cannot, repeat, cannot – we can never accept the killing of the Kyoto Protocol.”

But poorer nations want richer ones to commit to steeper, binding emissions reductions and provide more aid to adapt to climate change.

Earlier, British Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband outlined some of those problems to reporters.

“Can we get the emissions cuts that we need?  Europe wants to move to 30 percent reduction by 2020, but we need high ambition from others as well, and we will be pushing for that on the basis of our willingness to go to the 30 percent,” Miliband said.  “There are issues behind finance, which is how we get beyond the very welcome fast-start commitments that are being made to longer term finance, and that is something we are working on.”

Miliband said the third issue centered on ways to report and verify climate-change pledges are actually delivered.  Negotiators are hoping those issues are resolved before world leaders arrive at the week’s end to sign a climate agreement.

The European Union last week agreed to earmark $3.6 billion yearly in short-term climate financing between 2010 and 2012 for developing nations.  But other countries have not followed suit.

Richer nations have not agreed on long-term climate financing for poorer ones.  Experts say more than $100 billion in annual aid will be needed by 2020.

Source: VOANEWS.COM

The main goals of the climate copenhagen summit are to agree on targets to cut to greenhouse-gas emissions

An iceberg is pictured in Ilulissat fjord in Greenland Photo: Reuters

and to set up a mechanism to provide developing countries with the billions of dollars needed to cope with climate change.

As Climate Conference Opens in Copenhagen, delegates aim to find common ground on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, promotion and transfer of new more eco-friendly technology and the necessary funding, especially for the less developed and poorer nations

The U.N. Climate Change conference opened in Copenhagen, Denmark Monday with some 15,000 delegates and observers from nearly 200 countries attending what is being billed the last best chance for an agreement to combat global warming.

“A warm welcome to Copenhagen and to the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009″

The opening words to delegates, experts and activists from around the world gathered here in Copenhagen for the next two weeks.

Their task is to find common ground, including on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, promotion and transfer of new more eco-friendly technology and the necessary funding to make this possible, especially for the less developed and poorer nations.  It also means coming up with long term vision and cooperation for the future.

The U.N.’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer issued a stark reminder that the clock has run out.

“The time for formal statements is over.  The time for re-stating well known positions is past,” said Yvo de Boer.  “The time has come to reach out to each other. I urge you to build on your achievements, take up the work that has already been done and turn it into action.”

Many countries have put proposals to reduce emissions on the table, including the United States, China and South Africa.

There have been strong statements from world leaders on the need to forge agreement, even though differences on timing, approach, burden sharing and funding remain.

The Copenhagen conference was to come up with a binding agreement to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which mandated emissions cuts, but was not signed by some of the world’s biggest polluters, including the United States.  Kyoto expires in 2012.  But many say a political framework is more likely at Copenhagen, with a binding accord to be worked out possibly next year.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen reminded delegates the time to act is now and for everyone.

“Global warming knows no borders, it does not discriminate, it affects us all and we are here today because we are all committed to take action,” he said.

The prime minister said he believes a deal is possible. Delegates have just over a week to prove him right – before more than 100 heads of state and government come here.  Conference organizers hope they’ll have a deal on the table for signing.

Source: VOANEWS.COM

CRIMES

Forensic medicine is also called Medical Jurisprudence or Legal Medicine, and includes all questions which bring medical matters into relation with the law. It deals, therefore, with (1) crimes and (2) civil injuries.

1. A crime is the voluntary act of a person of sound mind harmful to others and also unjust. No act is a crime unless it is plainly forbidden by law. To constitute a crime, two circumstances are necessary to be proved—(a) that the act has been committed, (b) that a guilty mind or malice was present. The act may be one of omission or of commission. Every person who commits a crime may be punished, unless he is under the age of seven years, is insane, or has been made to commit it under compulsion.

Crimes are divided into misdemeanours and felonies. The distinction is not very definite, but, as a rule, the former are less serious forms of crime, and are punishable with a term of imprisonment, generally under two years; while felonies comprise the more serious charges, as murder, manslaughter, rape, which involve the capital sentence or long terms of imprisonment.

An offence is a trivial breach of the criminal law, and [2] is punishable on summary conviction before a magistrate or justices only, while the more serious crimes (indictable offences) must be tried before a jury.

2. Civil injuries differ from crimes in that the former are compensated by damages awarded, while the latter are punished; any person, whether injured or not, may prosecute for a crime, while only the sufferer can sue for a civil injury. The Crown may remit punishment for a crime, but not for a civil injury.

A journey

A journey of  a million miles

what else can life be

when all we do is, is just strive to be..

while we make mistake at whim

we strive to out wit ourselves

a familiar foe, though

but for the wise; their teacher

its’ lessons follows no sequence

bitter you may say

but what a compulsory routine

as it adds to our wealth of knowledge

the greatest of men

deemed it fit not to avoid  it

after all, somehow, we come back to where we starteted

cause in a world like ours

where everything moves in a circle

we do not just go round in circles but trace our path

© Anyi Nweze

Big boob

If your bo0bs can attract some hard stares then you are eligible to contest for this first ever big breast competition.  Are you a lady blessed with big and beautiful breasts? Are you proud of the endowment and willing to flaunt them? If yes, this is an opportunity for you to use what you have to get what you need. However, the breasts must be natural, not those augmented or ‘pumped,’ as they say in local parlance.

Indeed, a Lagos organization, Salty Land Ventures Nigeria Limited, is organizing a unique pageant for ladies with jumbo size breasts, offering mouth-watering prizes to the winners and participants.
Disclosing this to Saturday Sun, the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of the outfit, Mr. Chimezie Egwu- Obasi, remarked that the event is not just about the size of breasts but a celebration of beauty, using unique or uncommon parameters.

He said: “Until recently, when a woman is blessed with extra-large breasts, people look at her somehow, and sometimes such women do not have self- confidence; they tend to be ashamed of their configuration. But gradually, all these are beginning to change.

Society no longer looks at such women with scorn or indignity and the women themselves have rediscovered themselves and are no longer lacking in confidence. In fact, it is not a secret that big breasts are in vogue today. The situation is such that ladies are now acquiring or buying bigger and firmer breasts with the help of medical science provided that they have the wherewithal to do so. What I am saying in effect is that the figures people made jest of in the past have become the desire of many men. So, in a way, the whole thing is evolving, like fashion. But this project is about natural breasts, big and beautiful breasts; the authentic breasts of real African ladies. These are the ones we aim to project and promote even to the global stage. We are saying that you can be beautiful and proud even with a huge burst.”

Obasi said that the pageant becomes imperative due to the wrong definition ascribed to beauty in some climes, which unfortunately our people have started seeing as acceptable standard.

He added: “One other thing we took into consideration prior to embarking on the project is the fact that many of our ladies now bare their breasts in the name of fashion. Everywhere you go these days, including places of worship and corporate environments, you see ladies pushing out their breasts for all to see. So, what we are now saying is those ladies who bare their breasts to the world for free can now show their stuff in a competition with others and win fantastic prizes. Instead of the free shows going on all over the place, generously endowed ladies are being given the opportunity to use what they have in a more beneficial way. With what we are doing, it is a win-win situation, so to say.”

On the take home package for the winning breasts, he explained: “Everybody is a winner. The overall winner and the contestants will all go home with something fantastic. This pageant is unique in every way.” Explaining that discussions with sponsors are ongoing, even as legion of sponsors want to be part of the show, he added that contestants must be single and not less than 18 years of age.

The lab scientist further said that the projet will also include teaching the participants how to care for ther breasts, noting that these are important parts of women. according t him, the participants will be taught how to measure themselves properly, stressing: “It is a fact that some women wear the wrong size and end up causing discomfort and health hazards to themselves. They also ruin their figure with ill-fitting bra, so we will teach them how to pick the right sizes and more”.

Source: Sunnews