Wednesday May 25, 2022
(Nairobi) – African Union (AU) member countries should use
their upcoming summit to commit to addressing human rights issues underlying
armed conflict and political upheaval on the African continent, Human Rights
Watch said today. The Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional
Changes of Government will take place on May 25-28, 2022, in Malabo, Equatorial
Guinea.
The AU summit is taking place within the context of five
coups in Africa since 2021, and Islamist insurgencies in Cameroon, Central
African Republic, Mozambique, Somalia, and the Sahel, as well as widespread
impunity for human rights violations by government security forces. The summit
is scheduled to begin on Africa Day, which commemorates the founding of the
Organization of African Unity, the AU’s predecessor, in 1963. The summit is an
opportunity for the continent’s leaders to address continuing political
repression, entrenched impunity, disregard for constitutional term limits, and
election rigging.
“The AU summit should follow up on its February pledges by
analyzing the links between human rights abuses and insurgencies and coups in
Africa,” said Carine Kaneza Nantulya, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights
Watch. “African leaders cannot afford to avoid addressing how impunity for
atrocities committed by their security forces is creating grievances that fuel
recruitment by extremist groups.”
In the Sahel, responses by governments and their Western
partners need to go beyond the security dimensions of the crisis and consider
the underlying deep-rooted social and political factors, Human Rights Watch
said. Over the past decade, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and other
nongovernmental organizations have documented thousands of unlawful killings
and other abuses of civilians and suspects by the security forces of Burkina
Faso, Mali, and Niger during counterterrorism operations. Governments have yet
to deliver justice to victims and their families.
Many atrocities appear to be in retaliation for the deaths
of soldiers during attacks by armed Islamist groups. Leaders in Malabo should
deliberate about building and strengthening rights-respecting counterterrorism
operations with built-in human rights monitoring and reporting systems, and
commit to strengthening judicial institutions to investigate, and fairly
prosecute, alleged violations.
“The AU needs to recognize that government abuses are a key
driver of endemic crisis that require bold approaches,” said Kaneza Nantulya.
“Human rights ought to be firmly at the center of regional solutions for the
Sahel and other crises.”
The AU should cooperate with the African Commission on Human
and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), to increase the presence of human rights officers
in African-led counterterrorism missions. Governments need to ensure that
cooperation agreements on counterterrorism operations set out human rights
standards, such as the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.
The AU should call for meaningful and effective security
sector reform efforts in conflict-affected countries and take concrete measures
to improve security force compliance with international human rights and
humanitarian law, and their progress on the protection of civilians. These
measures should include establishing civilian oversight bodies and vetting
mechanisms to remove members implicated in serious human rights abuses from
security and intelligence services.
The members also need to address democratic deficits and
issues around corruption, impunity, term limits, and the need to hold free and
fair elections, which have undermined development and encouraged changes of
government that deny citizens the right to choose their leaders.
In Sudan, since the October 2021 military coup, security
forces have arbitrarily detained hundreds of protesters and forcibly
disappeared scores of others as part of a broader clampdown on activists and
civil society opponents of the coup. Security forces have targeted protesters,
including children. AU leaders’ engagement with Sudanese leaders on resolving
the crisis should fully consider demands by protesters and the broader civic
community, such as ensuring systemic reforms, including within the security
forces, prioritizing justice for past and recent abuses, and the establishment
of civilian rule.
In Chad, the human rights situation, particularly the rights
to freedom of assembly and expression, has worsened since the unexpected death
of President Idriss Déby Itno in 2021, and the takeover by his son, Mahamat
Idriss Déby Itno.
“The AU should urge military leaders in Chad and Sudan to
end the killings, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention of
protesters and activists,” Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should
respond to citizens’ demands for ethical leadership, civilian rule, economic
security, and demonstrate greater respect for the rights to freedom of
expression, association, and assembly.
Almost 60 years ago, in establishing the Organization of
African Unity, African leaders decided to anchor their vision of human dignity
and freedom within a pan-African institution, now the African Union. As African
leaders reflect on the many gains since 1963, they should pay close attention
to and respond to emerging forms of state-sponsored repression: the use of mass
surveillance equipment, hampering of humanitarian access, deliberate internet
shutdowns and denial of access to information.
“The AU should urgently address the increasingly ruthless
repression of dissent and political opposition by autocratic governments that
is fueling political crises across Africa,” Kaneza Nantulya said. “The AU
should take steps to reverse these trends that constitute serious reversals of
hard-won progress on justice, accountability and the rule of law and act
accordingly. If not, those who, like OAU founder Julius Nyerere, argue that the
AU is a club of autocrats and not an institution of the African people, will be
proved right.”