Crackdowns on Dissent, Civic Space; Fewer Opportunities for Justice
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(Nairobi) – Armed groups and government forces in West Africa have committed atrocities with impunity in 2024, with thousands of dead and injured, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025.
For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove many from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies.
“Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting between government forces and armed groups,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The African Union and other regional bodies should scale up scrutiny of rights abusers and take concrete measures to better protect civilians caught amid the fighting.”
There has been no accountability for abuses committed in the armed conflicts involving Islamist armed groups in the Sahel and Nigeria, fostered by weak political responses from regional and international bodies. The violence, including hundreds of abductions by armed groups, has displaced millions of people and led to widespread destruction of critical infrastructure.
“The authorities in Nigeria and the Sahel used unchecked power to commit rights violations with impunity,” Segun said. “These governments and their partners, in Africa and beyond, should publicly disavow intolerance for dissent, promote the protection of rights, and ensure justice for victims of abuses.”
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