Claudia Santos Cruz cautions against the shift away from urgent humanitarian priorities in Africa

Claudia Santos Cruz, Morais Leitão Partner, MDR Advogados Consultant and Vice-Chair of the IBA African Regional Forum, has warned that the growing number of “family values” conferences taking place across Africa risks diverting attention from the continent’s most pressing humanitarian challenges, including access to healthcare and energy.

In an interview published by the International Bar Association (IBA), she emphasised the need to frame debates within the socio-economic realities faced by millions across African countries.

“When you are working or dealing with Africa you need context,” she says. “Life expectancy is 64 years and 600 million people don’t have [access to] basic healthcare services. Twenty-one million people live with AIDS, 24 per cent of the world’s disease burden is in Africa, but only one per cent of spending on global healthcare is here. I fear a move away from real humanitarian issues like basic health services and energy.”

Her remarks come amid a rise in high-profile events addressing issues such as abortion and LGBTQI+ rights under the banner of protecting “family values”. Santos Cruz questioned whether these debates reflect locally defined priorities or external agendas.

“So, are we really concerned with the family values that the Global North wants to bring, which [Africans will] probably ignore anyway because they’re not necessarily African family values?”

She also highlighted what she described as a disconnect between international speakers and the on-the-ground realities in the countries hosting such conferences.

“The people who speak at these conferences, be it in defense of abortion or LGBTQI+ policy or family values, arrive at the airport, speak and then leave. They do not walk through the reality of these countries,” she says.

The full interview is available on the IBA website.