The Freedom in the World 2024 – Guinea-Bissau report by Freedom House highlights persistent political instability. President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s 2019 electoral victory was internationally recognized, yet tensions between the presidency and parliament have deepened, culminating in the dissolution of the National Assembly in December 2023 and the use of force to block MPs from entering the building. No date for new legislative elections had been set by year-end. Press freedom remains extremely fragile: journalists and media outlets—especially Radio Capital FM—face harassment, intimidation, and violent attacks. Civil society actors and human rights defenders also encounter arbitrary detention and physical assaults. Widespread corruption, weak judicial access, illegal economic activities, gender inequalities, and the trafficking of talibé children for forced begging and labor severely undermine the rule of law. Overall, governance structures remain weak, and fundamental freedoms continue to be compromised in Guinea-Bissau.

Politics, Bribery, Governance, Human Rights, Liberté d'expression, Instabilité

The 2025 national report (submitted under resolutions 5/1 and 16/21 of the United Nations Human Rights Council) provides a comprehensive overview of the human rights situation in Guinea-Bissau. Institutional efforts have been made: a national monitoring mechanism (NMIRF) was established, and laws were adopted to promote freedom of expression, gender parity in politics, and protections against human trafficking. However, progress under the national development plan “Terra Ranka” remains weak due to political instability. Serious violations persist: 123 confirmed human trafficking cases in 2021, restrictions on free speech, social rights abuses, and environmental harm due to illicit construction in protected areas. The report urges strengthening protection mechanisms, ensuring judicial follow-up, improving access to information, and enforcing human rights legislation to safeguard vulnerable populations.

Politics, Governance, Security, Human Rights, Civil Society, Liberté d'expression

The report describes a structured child-trafficking system moving children from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal, where they are forced to beg under the guise of religious education. Historically, talibés travelled to Senegal to study the Qur’an, supported by community almsgiving. However, since the 1970s, poverty, drought, and urban migration have turned this tradition into widespread exploitation. Marabouts now recruit children from vulnerable families—often through deception—and smuggle them across porous borders. Once in Senegal, children live in overcrowded, unsafe shelters and must deliver daily quotas of money. Forced begging has become a profitable criminal activity, linked to money laundering through the cashew and charcoal trade. While Senegal and Guinea-Bissau have ratified international conventions and adopted anti-trafficking laws, enforcement remains weak due to limited resources, strong cultural tolerance, and well-organized trafficking networks.

Security, Poverty, Human Rights, Vulnerability, Insécurité, Enfant, Trafic

This note reviews the September 5, 2023 judgment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Ligue ivoirienne des droits de l’homme and Others v. Côte d’Ivoire (App. No. 041/2016), arising from the Probo Koala toxic waste dumping in Abidjan (Trafigura). The Court found five violations by Côte d’Ivoire: right to an effective remedy, right to life, right to health, right to a satisfactory environment, and right to information. It clarifies states’ positive obligations (prevention, protection, investigation, redress), links them to the Bamako Convention and regional environmental norms, and underscores corporate responsibility under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights while holding the state primarily responsible. Remedies include establishing a victims’ compensation fund, providing medical and psychological care, and adopting legislative and institutional reforms (civil/criminal corporate liability, hazardous-waste bans, capacity building).

Governance, Security, Human Rights

The 2023 Human Rights Report on Côte d’Ivoire notes no significant overall changes during the year, while documenting key concerns: arbitrary or unlawful killings (including extrajudicial), torture and ill-treatment, harsh, life-threatening prison conditions (severe overcrowding at MACA), arbitrary arrest and detention, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media (suspensions, self-censorship), interference with peaceful assembly, corruption, and violence against LGBTQI+ persons. Reports describe abuse between arrest and booking, inadequate food and medical care in some facilities, and prolonged pretrial detention amid limited judicial capacity outside major cities. While the report notes incremental improvements (e.g., a new prison, more outdoor time for inmates), it concludes the government did not consistently identify and punish officials responsible for abuses.

Bribery, Governance, Justice, Human Rights, Liberté d'expression, Impunity

In this video interview published on November 18, 2020, Maleine Amadou Niang, Country Director of the International Budget Partnership (IBP) in Senegal, discusses the situation of people living with disabilities. He highlights the lack of reliable data, citing the 2013 ANSD census which recorded 5.9% of Senegal’s population as disabled. Niang emphasizes public policy shortcomings in inclusion, funding, and accessibility. He advocates for strengthening institutional capacities, improving national statistics, and ensuring effective inclusion of persons with disabilities in budgeting processes. He calls for transparent, participatory governance and notes that using this data will help guide national priorities. The talk underscores the importance of official recognition and a budgeting approach that is sensitive to gender and disability.

Governance, Human Rights, Disability, Inclusion

On March 7, 2025, Tunisia withdrew its declaration under Article 34(6) of the African Charter’s Protocol, removing direct access for citizens and NGOs to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), unless through the African Commission or another State party. This decision follows similar withdrawals by Rwanda (2016), Tanzania (2019), Benin and Côte d’Ivoire (2020), significantly weakening individual access mechanisms. Now, only seven African countries maintain this direct access. The authors highlight a trend of sovereignist backtracking, where states prioritize political control over continental justice, potentially to evade accountability. They warn this pattern undermines Africa’s human rights protection system and calls for a critical debate on balancing national sovereignty with supranational judicial oversight.

Sovereignty, Governance, Justice, Human Rights

Modou Ndiaye's article highlights statelessness in West Africa, particularly in Senegal, where over a million people are stateless and hundreds of thousands at risk. This issue stems from legal gaps, discriminatory nationality policies, border changes, lack of awareness about civil registration, and the absence of automatic nationality transmission. The consequences are severe: lack of access to education, healthcare, and formal employment. The author calls for legislative reforms, modernization of civil registration, awareness campaigns, and the establishment of procedures to determine stateless status, in line with international conventions ratified by Senegal.

Human Rights, Discrimination, Nationality, Statelessness

Since April 2023, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has led to the mass displacement of civilians into eastern Chad. This report, published by SIPRI in partnership with BUCOFORE, is based on perception surveys, qualitative interviews, and focus group discussions held in four refugee camps. It explores the lived experiences of displaced Sudanese women and girls, who face significant barriers to accessing food, reproductive health services, water, sanitation, and safety. The report highlights the chronic underfunding of humanitarian responses and the lack of gender-sensitive aid, both of which heighten the risks of gender-based violence. It offers concrete recommendations to policymakers, humanitarian organizations, and donors to improve the protection and support provided to refugee women and girls.

Human Rights, Women, Violence, refugee, Déplacement forcé, Crise humanitaire