Youth Football Dream Turned Into Nightmare
Senegalese Player Cheikh Touré’s Death Reignites Football Trafficking Debate On November 2, a funeral was held for Cheikh Touré, a promising young Senegalese goalkeeper, after his body was finally returned to his family from Ghana. According to media reports, Touré had traveled to Ghana to meet people he believed to be football scouts. They allegedly […]
Kenya: New Cybercrime Amendments Threaten Online Expression
Authorities Should Repeal Provisions that Undermine Free Speech Kenya’s newly enacted Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendments) Act, 2025, risks criminalizing legitimate online speech and its overbroad provisions should be repealed, Human Rights Watch said today. The amendment was passed by Parliament and assented to by President William Ruto on October 15. The Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act […]
Uganda Continues Targeting Fossil Fuel Activists
Authorities Should Drop Charges Against EACOP Protesters On November 6, a court in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, gave the go-ahead for the trial of twelve activists, eight of whom are students. The group faces charges stemming from their protests against the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), one of the largest fossil fuel infrastructure projects […]
Tanzania: Killings, Crackdown Follow Disputed Elections
Security Forces Use Live Ammunition Against Opposition Protests The authorities in Tanzania responded to widespread protests following the October 29 elections with lethal force and other abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 1, Tanzania’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, announced that the incumbent president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, won the election with […]
Obstetric Violence Deadly for Sierra Leone Women, Newborns
Reform Systems that Undermine Women’s Rights Women giving birth in public hospitals in Sierra Leone who are unable to pay informal fees face dangerous neglect and abuse by health care providers, in some cases leading to the deaths of women or their newborns. Sierra Leone’s progress on maternal healthcare is being undermined by a lack […]
Convicted in Mali for Expressing ‘Unwavering Solidarity’
Former Prime Minister’s Prosecution, Prison Sentence Signals Shrinking Civic Space On Monday, Mali’s national cybercrime court convicted former Prime Minister Moussa Mara for posting a message online expressing solidarity with political prisoners in the country. The prosecution represents the military junta’s starkest expansion yet of its campaign against free expression. Authorities arrested Mara in August for expressing his […]
Burkina Faso: Judicial Officers Feared Forcibly Disappeared
Heightened Crackdown against Justice System, Media Burkina Faso authorities should urgently investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts of six judges and prosecutors as well as one lawyer who are feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch said today. The abductions of the judicial officers and lawyer since October 10, 2025, could amount […]
Chad: Constitutional Change Threatens Rule of Law, Democracy
Abolition of Term Limits Risks Entrenching President, Further Endangering Rights Chad’s new constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits is a serious setback for the rule of law and democracy, Human Rights Watch said today. The change paves the way for President Mahamat Idriss Déby to remain in power indefinitely, further weakening the prospects for a meaningful, […]
Two Burkina Faso Activists Unlawfully Conscripted are Released
Junta Abuses Emergency Law, Wrongfully Detains Critics Burkina Faso authorities on October 6 released Rasmané Zinaba and Bassirou Badjo, two members of the civil society group Balai Citoyen, who had been unlawfully conscripted into military service after criticizing the country’s military junta. Their release is an encouraging if not unprecedented development in a country where the government has […]
Chad’s Weaponization of Citizenship
Dangerous Turn Violates Human Rights and Sends Messages to Activists On September 17, the Chadian authorities published a decree purporting to strip blogger Makaila Nguebla and journalist Charfadine Galmaye Saleh of their nationality. The move marks a chilling escalation in the repression of dissent. By wielding citizenship as a political weapon, the government not only violates international […]
