Concerns and anger are growing in Nigeria's Niger Delta due to recurring crude oil spills which are devastating the environment and harming people. Meanwhile, in Uganda, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is set to begin construction in the first quarter of 2024, transporting oil from Uganda to Tanzania's Tanga port for global trade, spurring widespread efforts to #stopeacop. European companies like Shell, Eni, and Total, are in the driver’s seat in both these cases of climate injustice, and hold responsibility for destroying the hope of achieving the 1.5° global warming limit of the Paris Agreement, and for ravaging nature and harming local communities. In 2022, the European Parliament called for halting EACOP. In this panel, we will discuss how the European Union can prevent global environmental and social harm caused by European companies

Speakers: Hilda Flavia Nakabuye (Ugandan climate activist); The Rt Revd and Rt Hon the Lord Sentamu PhD (Cantab), PC, Chair of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission (BSOEC)

Language: English

Challenges like climate change require enormous investments from governments. However, African countries’ governments lose billions of euros per year to tax havens like The Netherlands. Despite being hit the hardest, African countries have little to no say in the global tax discussions in the OECD, dominated by rich countries. Last year, after a proposal by 54 African countries, the United Nations decided unanimously that global tax reform should be discussed in the UN, where all countries have an equal voice. But this is only the beginning. How can we stop global tax abuse and ensure adequate financing for public services to achieve social and climate justice?

Speakers: Ishmael Zulu (Tax Justice Network Africa), Aisha Aize Isa (IBFD Centre for Studies in African Taxation), Gijs Verbraak (ActionAid), Henrique Alencar (Oxfam Novib). Moderated by Arnold Merkies (Tax Justice NL).

Language: English

Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. She is the author of Brit(ish), the Sunday Times bestselling book that explores Britishness, identity and belonging, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. She co-presented Enslaved, a 6-part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson. She is also the presenter of the Audible podcast series We Need To Talk About the British Empire, and Africa Rising, an ongoing flagship series about art and culture for the BBC, through the production company she founded, Born in Me Productions. She is a longtime columnist for the Guardian and is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her new book, Decolonising My Body, is a powerful excavation of the Eurocentric beauty standards that have long shaped how people around the world are perceived and view themselves.

In this programme, Afua Hirsch will talk with journalist, writer and columnist Babah Tarawally, and with the audience, about her work.

Speakers: Afua Hirsch and Babah Tarawally

Language: English

Since April 2023, Sudan has been affected by violent clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF). Two years after the hopeful revolution in 2019 and the fall of long-time president Omar Al-Bashir, a subsequent military coup created political and economic turmoil, reviving old conflicts. These violent confrontations have claimed thousands of lives, injured many, and displaced more than 7 million people. During this session, politicians, experts, and members of the diaspora will take an in-depth look at this urgent conflict, discuss the regional implications, and reflect together on Sudan's future.

Speakers: Nicoline van der Torre (Senior Policy Officer Sudan - Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Francesca Caruso (researcher in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa Programme at the Instituto Affari Internazionali (IAI)), Adam Elhaj (CEM - Environmentalist en Sudanese activist) Thijs Reuten (PvdA Member of European Parliament) - Moderator: Kiza Magendane

Language: English