Rights group raises concern about crackdown on freedoms in West Africa News
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Rights group raises concern about crackdown on freedoms in West Africa

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday that crackdowns on freedoms increased in several West African countries throughout 2025, following the release of its annual global report on the status of human rights.

The 36th edition of the World Report documented a widespread regression in political and civil rights across the region. The report highlighted extended military transitions, bans on multiparty politics, arbitrary detentions, and violent attacks on civilians by both armed groups and state forces.

In Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, military juntas have consolidated power by postponing democratic transitions, banning political opposition, and expelling international bodies like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Concurrently, Islamist armed factions, including Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Sahel Province, intensified massacres, while government forces and allied militias were implicated in summary executions.

Mausi Segun, Africa director at HRW, stated:

Leaders of military juntas in the Sahel region ramped up efforts to stifle free speech and other freedoms with little regard for transitioning to promised democratic rule. Greater regional efforts are needed to press the authorities in West Africa to open up political and democratic space and protect people’s human rights.

The report holds that these governments are violating core obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and international humanitarian law. It further condemned the announced withdrawals of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which it says severely jeopardizes accountability for grave abuses.

HRW called on regional bodies such as the African Union and international institutions to work harder to “keep civilians safe” from violence in the region.

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