CARRISSA is a three-year interdisciplinary and multi-country SSHRC-funded partnership development grant project focusing on collaborative research between Canadian government/non- government actors and African countries (Nigeria, South Africa, Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroun, and Kenya). The project is co-directed by Professor Sylvia Bawa (LA&PS) and Professor Obiora Okafor (the Edward B Burling Chair in International Law, John Hopkins University) and focuses on studying Canadian African human rights engagements between 1989 and 2020 with the intention to inform gaps in awareness, policies, and practice.
Members of the network include York University, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Center for Social Justice (CENSOJ), University of Saskatchewan, Riara University, University of Pretoria, University of Rwanda, Pan African Lawyers Union, the Initiatives for Child Rights and eleven independent (11) participating faculty/activists.
On 4th and 5th July 2022, CARRISSA organized a research and dissemination workshop at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa. The two-day hybrid workshop brought together 25 scholars from 15 countries and 10 universities/institutions under the following 5 thematic areas:
- Gender/Sexuality/Women's rights
- Democratization;
- Economic/Social Rights;
- Human rights and;
- Artificial Intelligence
Speakers highlighted the pivotal role of African human rights engagements in Canada's foreign policy, focusing on cultural relativism, poverty and development. Other presentations also discussed Canadian engagements around artificial intelligence and human rights in Sub-Sharan Africa, issues of peace and security, intellectual property rights, sexual violence and conflict in Northern Nigeria and climate justice.
To know more about the workshop and other engagements by the network visit the CARRISSA project website and connect with Prof. Sylvia Bawa, Associate Professor of Sociology at LA&PS.