If 2021 was the spark that ignited the vision for the African Futures Lab, 2022 was a year of building and consolidating our vision as an organization, and of launching many initiatives.
Given the scale of both the challenges and the opportunities ahead, the African Futures Lab refined its strategy throughout 2022.
Our analysis of the events of 2022 and of current political dynamics led us to the decision to focus on historical and contemporary racial injustices unfolding between Africa and Europe specifically.
Until now, the struggle for racial equality and justice for Africans and Afro- descendants has largely been waged on a national scale. But this approach fails to consider how racial injustices have unfolded and are still unfolding between the two continents.
Adopting a transcontinental prism enables us to tackle the culture of impunity that characterizes the injustices and crimes that take place on the African continent but for which responsibility lies outside of the continent.
Accra Summit for Racial Healing (August 1-4,2022) - Photo courtesy of African Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF)
Whether in the field of human rights, socio-economic inequalities, or climate issues, these injustices deserve our attention and must not go unpunished, even if their transnational nature makes it difficult to make them visible and to demand justice.
We have also taken the decisive step to expand the Lab’s focus beyond research to also include advocacy.
Image of the courtroom in the legal case brought forward against the Belgian state by M. Loshi, N. Verbeken, L. Mujinga, S. Ngalula et M. Bintu Bingi for crimes against humanity - © Elio Germani
Always grounded in an evidence-based approach, we shall work alongside activists in their demands for justice and reparation to together bring forward demands for states and private actors to take responsibility and provide repair for African and Afro- descendant populations.
You can download the full report here