Botswana activist Alice Mogwe spoke about the African and Anglican roots of her commitment to human dignity as she was presented with the prestigious Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Human Rights Award for 2021. Mogwe, the President of the International Federation of Human Rights, is a leading figure in the world-wide human rights community and in 2018 she became the first person from civil society to address a High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
In her acceptance speech entitled ‘What I learnt on the Way’ she emphasised the significance of human dignity as the basis of all right relationships between people and peoples. The concept of Botho – made famous as Ubuntu by her friend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu – is the foundation of all she has fought for from her awakening to the present day.
Her journey of activism was started by her objection to the dehumanising, systematized evil of apartheid that she encountered as a law student in Cape Town. She went on to learn that ‘the racist ideology of apartheid – the epitome of the dehumanisation by one human being of another – was but a tangible, formalised version of the indignities thrust upon human beings by other human beings.’
In 1993 Mogwe founded Ditshwanelo: the Botswana Centre for Human Rights. At the award ceremony speaker after speaker spoke of her ability to listen and respect people who were often the most downtrodden in society. Her activism is centred on giving voice to the voiceless and not speaking for them. In Botswana this has been true for the indigenous peoples of the Kalahari, migrant workers, the LGBTI+ communities, domestic workers and people with HIV/AIDS. Her work has spread to neighbouring countries and she has worked alongside people in places as diverse as Brazil and India.
These skills were especially valued by those who worked with her on the Anglican Communion’s Continuing Indaba project which she helped shape. She contributed as a facilitator, enabling diverse Anglicans to walk together, speak and listen, and develop strategies for mission.
The concept of Botho – which harmonises with the Biblical ideal of koinonia – demands that all people are treated with dignity and, while it is rooted in local community, it also recognises the interconnection between all human beings. This is the foundation of Indaba.
In her speech she lamented the myopia of European politicians who finger-pointing at those engaged in people-smuggling instead of recognising that the causes of migration are authoritarian governments, climate change, violence, and economics. She said of Western governments: ‘Inclusive social justice needs to be truly on their agenda, tacking causes and not only symptoms.’
Naming injustices of vaccination nationalism and vaccination apartheid, she criticised the selfishness of powerful rich nations, but she also addressed the faults in the ‘human rights agenda’ that sees victory in the passing of laws and statements of commitment without any real change for people. She asked ‘Does a legal recognition of the “right to health” lead to increased access to vaccines in our unequal world?’.
Looking to the future she said:
‘We are at a global crossroads, faced with major populations displacements due to floods, droughts, wars, deficits of peace and non-accountable leadership. I believe that we can focus on the reaffirmation of the ‘’universality of dignity’’ – that which reaffirms our human connectedness, our Botho.’
In receiving the award Mogwe recognised her dependency on others by saying: ‘We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us – we should never be under the illusion that we can do anything on our own.’