Amnesty report details rights violations across sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa has been subject to grave human rights violations in multiple nations, according to a new State of the World’s Human Rights report released by Amnesty International on Tuesday.
The report authors say it highlights “the failure of global and regional institutions, including the UN Security Council and African Union, to respond adequately to crimes committed under international law” in countries including South Sudan, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
“While the international community’s attention shifted to Ukraine, Africa continued to suffer from the scourge of conflict,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Director for West and Central Africa.
“Africa was already facing a long, slow recovery from Covid-19 but the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine has resulted in a spike in global oil prices, which has driven the cost of commodities higher. … Many people are barely surviving in fragile economies such as Zimbabwe, Liberia and South Sudan and this has compromised people’s socio-economic rights.”
The AU response to human rights violations was described as either absent or timid at best, despite successful mediation of the peace agreement in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. For the seventh year in a row, the AU has yet to establish the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, the report noted.
Meanwhile, Amnesty said armed groups and government forces continue to violate human rights across the Sahel, despite AU and UN Security Council efforts, and repression against journalists and opposition leaders is used to silence those in countries as diverse as Eswatini, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Zimbabwe.
“Longstanding impunity for human rights violations from Burkina Faso to Central African Republic, Ethiopia to Sudan and Mozambique to Cameroon has added fuel to the fire of conflicts and human rights violations in Africa,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa. “Both state and non-state actors cannot continue to violate human rights and international humanitarian law with impunity.”
The complete Amnesty International report is available here.
Image: Amnesty International file
Laureen Fagan
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Laureen is a freelance journalist creating high-quality, informed content on international affairs, politics and technology. She has worked both in and out of newsrooms since 2000. She is a former paramedic with significant experience in community resilience and nonprofit community development initiatives, and maintains "a passion for action" on sustainability and climate change. She also is trained in conflict resolution and diversity, and has special interests in science and medical reporting, and culture and religion issues. Laureen received her MSJ from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in the United States, and completed additional graduate study in theology at University of Notre Dame. Follow Laureen on Mastodon at @laureen@m.ai6yr.org
