The New World Order, Human Rights and Extradition Laws in Africa: Impacts and Prospects

Abstract

Before the emergence of the New World Order (NWO), the atrocities, crimes and offences committed by ignoble African tyrants, dictators, rulers and unwieldy but powerful individuals such as Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Hussein Habre of Chad Republic, and a no-less despotic others were beforehand treated with kids gloves, while the actors were considered to be local in character. But today, these offences have morally and legally become unacceptable before the larger world. This study, thus, argued that the change in perception in what constitutes a crime and what does not has ushered in tremendous changes in action and attitude towards all forms of offences. This has brought to the fore the need for one country to collaborate with other countries of the world, to achieve crime control, as well as strengthen the need for the exchange of criminals who may have committed offences such as war crimes, genocide, terrorism, money laundering, drug and human trafficking, etc., and to bring to book such crime perpetuators who may be on the run or are on the wanted list. The inquiry also argued that the change in perception of what constitutes a crime in Africa has led to a decrease in the exercise of impunity and uncontrollable abuses of human rights by the dishonourable men of power. More fundamentally is the increase in extradition arrangements or treaties in Africa. The research, consequently, is aimed at examining various extradition cases involving African leaders and individuals who have, in one way or the other, committed or allegedly committed extraditable offences in recent times. Equally is the emphasis placed on the need for increase in extradition accords and prospects in Africa. To achieve its aim, therefore, the study adopted qualitative and explorative methods of analysis which means that the secondary source of data collection such as textbooks, journal articles and official documents were employed considering the nature and scope of the research. Anchoring our analysis on ‘’System theory’’, the investigation proceeded to suggest that the government of the states of Africa should continue to cooperate with one another as with other nations of the world so as to sustain the achievement so far recorded in the area of crime control through extradition agreements.

Keywords: New World Order, New World System, Cold War, Extradition treaties, Agreements, Fugitive offenders , Criminals, Tyrants, Dictators.

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/82-14