UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

POLI468 HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA
NICHOLAS ARYEE ASSI
ID:10733829
Country Comparison Report
Question 1: Based on the latest country reports of the UNDPS human development index,

human freedom, human rights, and amnesty international, create a table showing Ghana's

ranking human rights records and each of your five assignment countries.

COUNTRIES HUMAN DEVELOPMENT RANKING(189)

INDEX(2019)

GHANA 0.611 138

ZAMBIA 0.584 146
TOGO 0.515 167
TUNISIA 0.740 95
ERITREA 0.459 180
CAMEROON 0.563 153

Question 2
WHAT DO THESE RANKINGS DEPICT

The HDI is determined by taking the geometric mean of three normalized indices: height,

breadth, and depth. The health component is evaluated using life expectancy at birth, while the
education dimension is evaluated using the average number of years spent in school by adults

aged 25 and above, as well as the expected number of years spent in school by children of

school-going age. The gross national income per capita measures people's total standard of

living. A long and healthy life, a good education, and a comfortable standard of living are all

aims that contribute to what the Human Development Index deems a well-rounded human being.

From the table able it clearly shows that Tunisia is doing better than all the other countries

above, its rights and freedoms enjoyed by the citizens is much better than the rest, followed by

Ghana, then Zambia, Cameroon, Togo and then Eritrea which is the waste performing and this

can be attributed to a lot of facts.

Question 3:
What similarities regarding Human Rights violations exist between the six countries? What
factors account for these?
Extrajudicial executions are a prevalent human rights violation in both of these countries.

Because governments have failed to investigate and capture criminals, the major answer that they

view as a remedy is to murder those who have been accused of being terrorists, which is a

violation of human rights. Also the violation of gender where the populace chose who they are

romantically involved with and also violation of the standard of living of people due to lack of

employment.

Question 4

What differences exist between them? How do you explain this?

Violations of human rights in the six nations listed above are similar, however some situations

cause differences in the countries' infringements of human rights. How the government handles

human rights breaches is one of the required elements that make a difference in human rights

abuses. If human rights violations are severely prosecuted, the pace of economic growth will be
 relatively high, not only that but also social growth and political harmony as well because in

some countries the government itself are the perpetuators of the violation.

QUESTION 5

Which indices exist for measuring your assigned category? Which of them is most accurate

and why?

Data aggregation is the index utilized in this situation to measure this category. Aggregate data is

high-level data obtained by aggregating individual-level data, whereas disaggregated data refers

to the breakdown of received information into smaller parts in order to identify underlying trends

and patterns.

QUESTION 6

COUNTRIES HUMAN DEVELOPMENT RANKING(189) HUMAN RIGHT

INDEX(2019) AND RULE OF
LAW(2007-2022)

GHANA 0.611 138 4.1

ZAMBIA 0.584 146 7.2
TOGO 0.515 167 6.5
TUNISIA 0.740 95 5.4
ERITREA 0.459 180 9
CAMEROON 0.563 153 7.6
Finally, add a column for humans and the rule of law index

QUESTION 7

What impact does the index used have on the human rights ranking of a country?
This index informs how best the human rights of citizens are respected in a country and how the

law applies to everyone equally with any bias or unfairness to anybody as we are all one hence if

the rule of law index is too high which signifies low respect for rule of law then there is a cause

for alarm.

QUESTION 8:
What’s the impact of population on the human rights rankings?

When a country's territory is very little, there will be conflicts throughout and an increase in the

number of occupants, which will likely ignite violence in the country. The population has a

considerable influence on the ranking of human rights. A country's human rights ranking will fall

as its population grows. This is due to competition for scarce resources, which may result in

corruption and violence. A stable population, on the other hand, leads to a rise in the ranking of

nations' human rights rankings as there is no rivalry for limited resources in the environment

(Maja et al., 2021).

QUESTION 9

What’s the impact of land size on the human rights rankings?

The land size of a country plays a significant role in human rights ranking as the larger the size

of the country the more comfortable everybody feels as they will won’t be struggle for land and

settlement hence leading to better condition thus if there is more vast land than the inhabitants on

the other hand when the land size is small, there is struggle for land and power and also struggle

for resources as there is limited resources to cater for the entire population, this will eventually

lead to the country ranking low as people will unhappy due to low resources.

QUESTION 10:
Create a table comparing the SDG rankings of all six countries (show all 17 areas). What are
your observations based on the area (s) associated with your assigned category?

COUNTRY SCORE RANKING

GHANA 63.44 110

ZAMBIA 54.16 140

TOGO 55.57 133

TUNISIA 70.69 69

ERITREA NOT SCORED NOT RANKED

CAMEROON 55.55 134

As per my observations based on the 17 categories reviewed, the nations mentioned above are

likely to meet their sustainable development goals based on their ranking. The country with the

highest ranking has the highest score for meeting development targets (Lee. 20200).

QUESTION 11

Utilizing the ITU’s ICT Development Index, create a table comparing your six assigned

countries.

COUNTRY INDEX VALUE (2017) INDEX RANKING(2017)

GHANA 4.05 116

ZAMBIA 2.54 146

TOGO 2.15 156

TUNISIA 4.82 99

ERITREA 176 0.96

CAMEROON 149 2.38

The United Nations International Telecommunication Union publishes the ICT Development

Index (IDI), which is based on globally approved information and communication technologies

(ICT) metrics. As a result, it is a useful tool for comparing the most relevant indicators for

gauging the information society. The IDI is a standard instrument that may be used by

governments, operators, development organizations, researchers, and others to quantify the

digital divide and compare ICT performance within and between nations.

QUESTION 12

Read the link below and discuss how it relates to your six countries.
https://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/primers/10-human-rights-priorities-for-the-ict-sector

The article discusses the importance of information technology in the advancement of human

rights. Looking at these nations, one can see that they have not done well in information

technology, which is one of the reasons why they are not doing well in ensuring that human

rights breaches are quickly recognized and given the attention that they need.

QUESTION 13

Using the link below, create a table comparing the following indices for all six countries:

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Dashboards/Pages/Digital-Development.aspx

COUNTRY Individuals Households Individuals Mobile data Households

owning a with Internet using the and voice with a
mobile phone access at Internet, total basket (low computer
home consumption) at home
as a % of GNI
p.c.
GHANA N/A 22% 58% 12.7% 16%

ZAMBIA 45% 18% 20% 16.0% 8%

 TOGO 44% 26% 24% 56.8% 10%

TUNISIA 80% 51% 72% 3.1% 52%

ERITREA NA NA 1% 15.0 NA

CAMEROON 75% 22% 38% 21% 18%

QUESTION 14
What significant Human Rights observation have you made about each of the six
countries?
Among the six countries, I believe that freedom of speech is the most important human right.

The freedom of speech helps residents to live in peace and harmony, raising the country's human

rights rating. Others have made efforts to resolve the situation, while others continue to

perpetrate it, even purchasing more weaponry to be used in eliminating people who oppose the

leaders in power.

QUESTION 15

What noteworthy lessons have you learnt from this assignment?

It is quite unfortunate to notice that most countries in Africa rank very low in terms of human

rights protection and promotion. I believe there is more to be done in African to ensure the rights

and freedoms of people is preserved.