In an interview on the BBC’s Today Program this week, Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell sang the praises of Rwanda’s “remarkable regime.” But as the debate over the government’s Safety of Rwanda bill came to a close, he left out some important facts about Rwanda’s human rights record. When asked about an incident in which […]
Monrovia — It’s almost 12 months since Ramadan fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15, 2023, and MSF is calling on the world not to turn its back on the devastated country. The level of “international neglect” when it comes to providing help for the people of Sudan is “shocking”, said MSF International President […]
A French NGO has filed a complaint seeking a probe into the deaths of two French officers killed in the early days of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The Survie NGO that advocates for better relations between France and Africa, and two relatives, on Monday sought answers over the deaths of two military police members Rene […]
RIGHTS group ActionAid has slammed the recent launch of the new structured currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) saying the nation needs restoration of confidence in the economy, not a new currency. Over the years, Zimbabwe has grappled with the repercussions of currency instability, witnessing the introduction of various currencies, each accompanied by promises of economic recovery. […]
Millions of people across Southern Africa, are grappling with the dual crises of hunger and flooding. Over half of Malawi’s 19 million population, six million people in Zambia, over three million in Zimbabwe, and three million more in Mozambique are facing hunger. Meanwhile, in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, floods wreaked havoc due to persistent heavy downpours […]
A Greenpeace report says South Africa is home to six of the world’s 10 largest nitrogen dioxide emission hotspots and nine of Africa’s 10 largest nitrogen dioxide point sources. South Africa houses some of the biggest air pollution sources on the African continent as a result of its energy sector, a Greenpeace Africa, Middle East […]
A measles crisis is mounting in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, just as health authorities struggle to overcome a yellow fever outbreak. Since February, seven deaths among children under five and 460 cases have been recorded as of 24 March in three health facilities in Yambio and Nzara counties; 90 per cent of these children […]
On 22 December 2023, detainees at Maseru Correctional Institution (MCCI), Lesotho, were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment by the Correctional Services officers who beat the detainees with various weapons and denied them necessary medical care. Relatives witnessed visible injuries on their visit, prompting urgent legal action. On 23 January 2024, the High Court of […]
Decision Threatens Civic Space, Reinforces State-Sponsored Homophobia Last week, in another blow to freedoms of association and expression in Uganda, a Ugandan court rejected a petition brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a leading group advocating for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, to compel the government to register the NGO. […]
Only 28 percent of the world’s most influential food and agriculture corporations report they are reducing their water withdrawals and just 23 percent say they are taking action to reduce water pollution. Oxfam’s new analysis of 350 corporations using World Benchmarking Alliance data comes ahead of World Water Day (March 22). The UN, which last […]
Authorities Should Quash Stanis Bujakera’s Conviction This week, a court in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, convicted the prominent journalist Stanis Bujakera and sentenced him to six months in prison for sharing an article on social media alleging that Congolese military intelligence had killed a senior opposition official. On the basis that he had already […]
Detention in Police Premises Notorious for Abuse Sends Chilling Message to Critics “They held him there to send a message to the rest of us: be careful, or else.” A human rights activist from the Central African Republic said this to Human Rights Watch after Crépin Mboli Goumba, a prominent political opponent, was arrested and […]
Migration Control Obsession Ignores Abuses, Entrenches Oppression The European Union is about to reward Egypt’s autocratic leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for preventing migrants’ departures towards Europe. Visiting Cairo on March 17, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the Prime Ministers of Italy, Greece, and Belgium, will officially upgrade the EU-Egypt relations to […]
Responding to the upcoming vote in Gambia’s parliament on 18 March on a bill to reverse the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM), Michèle Eken, senior researcher at Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa office, said: “This bill would set a dangerous precedent for women’s rights and tarnish Gambia’s human rights record. We urge parliament […]
Earlier this month, in the landmark trial of Guinea‘s former president and 10 others, including former ministers, who are accused of responsibility for a massacre and rapes in a stadium, the prosecution team requested the reclassification of charges to crimes against humanity. The trial is currently suspended until March 18, 2024, to allow for the […]
On 1 March, Anacleto Micha Ndong, an Equatoguinean human rights defender, was transferred to the Malabo prison of Black Beach on pre-trial detention. He has been accused of outrage and calumny by a gendarme who Anacleto had accused of torturing him the last time he was detained in Black Beach, in 2023. This gendarme still […]
Responding to the abduction of at least 60 people by gunmen in Buda, in the state of Kaduna, Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said: “Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and his government must urgently address the country’s spate of abductions targeting children in schools and internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the northern part […]
Millions of people have nothing left to eat but wild roots as they have lost their crops to repeated extreme weather Tropical storm Filipo has hit Mozambique today, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of humanitarian support. The storm, which made landfall in Inhambane province in Mozambique, comes just a year after […]