In response to an alleged increase in crime by youth gangs, especially a group known as the “8 Machetes”, Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, launched a national plan to combat these gangs at the beginning of May, which was labelled by the authorities as a “Cleaning Operation”.

On 9 May 2022, Vice President Nguema Obiang Mangue said in a video broadcast on national TV that he had decided to launch the operation ‘to clean’ the streets of Equatorial Guinea of criminals and bandits, and to highlight the “right way” to young criminals.

The ‘Cleaning Operation’ in Equatorial Guinea is deeply concerning as it leads to egregious violation of human rights. Under the pretext of fighting criminality, young people are being arbitrarily arrested and detained, with many facing torture or other ill-treatment, losing their lives, or being forcibly disappeared.” 

Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner for West and Central Africa.

“The Equatorial Guinea authorities must immediately end this campaign, which amounts to little more than a targeted assault on human rights. It is entirely possible to deal with criminal cases while also respecting human rights.”

Mass arrests and curfews

The government’s plan includes a curfew for young people, as well as sending suspected criminals to high security prisons. In a single week in May, more than 400 young people were arrested, while three months later, thousands of young men were reportedly arrested across the country. Due to a lack of evidence in some cases, some judges decided to grant parole to those arrested. At least two of those arrested, however, died in prison.

Amnesty International spoke with relatives of arrested and detained individuals. In many cases, they said their relatives were mistreated by the security forces during their arrest and detention.

Rubén, a 21-year-old from Campo-Yaunde, was arrested alongside a group of other young people on 20 May while gathering in the Campo-Yaunde area of Malabo, the capital. The group had been described by the authorities as criminals. On 6 June, he died in prison. The family received his body and a medical report, which indicated that Rubén had suffered from breathing difficulties and anorexia, among other health issues. The family maintains that Rubén had no health problems at the time of his arrest.

An older brother of two arrested boys told Amnesty: “The government is reacting to the actions of a criminal gang that was stealing from people, but they are taking people at random. Some are criminals, but others are just innocent men. They don’t investigate. We are not the only ones affected. Many families are also affected all over the country.”

‘He is a gangster, and we are going to put him in jail’

For many other young people arbitrarily arrested by security forces, their whereabouts remains unknown, while their families are often left with little or no news.

Lucas, a 24-year-old, was arrested by the Rapid Intervention Force on 8 May while spending time with his girlfriend and other friends. They were taken to the Central Police Station in Malabo. When Lucas’ girlfriend, Anita, tried to visit him, the police said her boyfriend “is a gangster, and we are going to put him in jail”. 

The family heard from informal sources that Lucas is reportedly being held in Black Beach, a high security prison in Malabo, yet nobody could confirm this information. The lack of official information on his fate or whereabouts may turn his deprivation of liberty into an enforced disappearance – a crime under international law.

Anita told Amnesty International: “The only thing they are saying is that none of those arrested are innocent. If at some point it is proven that they are innocent, then they will be released. What happened to Lucas is happening all over the country. It’s not just here in Malabo.”

Santiago, a 22-year-old student arrested in the municipality of Bata three months ago, is still being arbitrarily detained by the police. Although the police told his family there was no proof of Santiago’s criminality, they demanded a payment of 100.000 CFA (around US$150) for his release. As the family were unable to pay, Santiago remains in detention in an unknown location.

“It’s not just my story. All the police stations are overcrowded with young boys who have been arrested. The other day, when I went there, there were at least more than 400 boys,” said Santiago’s father.

According to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Equatorial Guinea is a party, arrested and detained persons have the right to contact and access a family member or other person of their choice. A few days before the launch of the “Cleaning Operation”, the President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo told the people of Equatorial Guinea that the plan does not undermine human rights, and that international human rights organizations who criticize it are trying to destabilize the country.

The Equatorial Guinean authorities must urgently offer transparent information on deaths in detention and torture and other ill-treatment. They must also ensure those suspected of criminality face justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts and release all those who have been arbitrarily arrested and detained.”

Marta Colomer

*Name changed to protect identities

The post Equatorial Guinea: ‘Cleaning Operation’ tramples on human rights, not crime appeared first on Amnesty International.

The men are irregular migrants — citizens from other African countries who do not have legal residence papers — and have been held in a police station in Malabo, the capital, since mid-November 2021, largely exceeding the 60 days limit provided by Organic Law 3/2010 which regulates the rights of foreigners in Equatorial Guinea. During this time, they have not had access to administrative or legal procedures to challenge the reasons for their detention, a legal guarantee under Equatorial Guinean law. One of the men is sick and requires medical assistance. 

“The Equatorial Guinean authorities must immediately release these four West African migrant men, who have suffered the confines of detention for almost half a year and put an end to the use of arbitrary arrests and detention,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner for West and Central Africa. 

Abdoulay Ndom and Mouamed Kalouare, from Mali, and Toba Mammed and Lamin Sisoko, from Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, have been held in detention since November 2021 as a result of mass immigration raids enacted by the police. Kalouare has been suffering from headaches, a fever, a persistent cough and chest pains. Staff at the police station say he has been receiving treatment. As he has shown no signs of improvement, however, his lawyer is calling for him to receive proper medical care. 

In March, the four detainees protested against the conditions of their detention and their legal situation by going on a days-long hunger strike, yet their efforts did not prompt the authorities to make any changes.

A backdrop of discriminatory round ups

Between 30 October 2021 and early December 2021, the Equatorial Guinea government launched a campaign against migrants accompanied by immigration raids that took place in major cities such as Malabo, Bata, Mongomo and Ebibeyin. Security forces stopped people on the street who they believed had “African foreign facial features” and demanded that they produce their identification papers. Those who did not have their documents with them were immediately arrested and detained, often regardless of their immigration status. 

According to government statements, the campaign aimed to combat irregular migration in Equatorial Guinea. Other reliable civil society sources, however, have indicated that the raids were carried out in response to rumours that some of the migrants intended to launch a coup d’etat against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. 

According to local organizations, in total, more than 500 people — mainly nationals from Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Chad and Mali — were detained in several cities around the country. Dozens of those arrested alleged that they were severely beaten and ill-treated during their arrest and detention.

The sudden influx of people being detained in police stations led to severe overcrowding. As a consequence, some people were instead detained in sport facilities, such as the Malabo Sports Complex and the Nkoantoma Sports Stadium in Bata.

Although some embassies, such as the Cameroonian one, provided some support to the migrants, they also reportedly asked the detainees to abstain from sharing information on social media about ill-treatment in the detention facilities or about the existence of deportation flights organized by the Equatorial Guinea army. 

The vast majority of detained individuals did not receive any legal assistance, nor had access to appropriate legal procedures and due process relating to their detention. Some were deported to their home countries without due process and without access to a lawyer prior to deportation orders being carried out. Others were released weeks after their arrest but did not receive any explanation for their detention and were never charged.

Nobody should be arbitrarily arrested and detained on the basis of racial profiling. In Equatorial Guinea, however, arbitrary arrests, and a shocking lack of adherence to legal guarantees provided in national and international laws remain the norm, rather than the exception. 

Marta Colomer, Senior Campaigner for Amnesty International West and Central Africa

“Nobody should be arbitrarily arrested and detained on the basis of racial profiling. In Equatorial Guinea, however, arbitrary arrests, and a shocking lack of adherence to legal guarantees provided in national and international laws remain the norm, rather than the exception,” said Marta Colomer. 

“The Equatorial Guinean authorities must urgently launch a thorough, independent and effective investigation into the allegations of illegal racial profiling and violence during arrests, as well as the failure to ensure access to legal protections and ill-treatment in custody.”

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In the second edition of The State of African Regional Human Rights Bodies and Mechanisms 2019-2020, released  on the African Human Rights Day, Amnesty International said the mechanisms established to safeguard human rights across the continent are facing enormous challenges, and at least one is facing an existential threat.

Given the magnitude of gross human rights violations across the continent, regional human rights bodies play a critical role in providing justice and accountability.

Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Director for Research and Advocacy

 “Given the magnitude of gross human rights violations across the continent, regional human rights bodies play a critical role in providing justice and accountability,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Director for Research and Advocacy.

“These mechanisms must be protected and fully supported. They serve as vital alternative channels for people to seek justice and effective remedies when national systems are compromised or inadequate.” 

Amnesty International’s report reviews and analyses the performance of Africa’s human rights treaty bodies:  the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission); the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Committee); and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court).

Existential crisis for African human rights court

The report raises alarm that future of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is in jeopardy following decisions by three governments – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania – to withdraw the right of individuals and NGOs to directly file cases before the court. Rwanda withdrew this right in 2016 bringing to four the number of countries that are now restricting access to this vital pathway to justice.

Amnesty International found that Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania withdrew this right in response to decisions they perceived as unfavourable, and amid rising intolerance towards human rights defenders and a general deterioration of human rights conditions nationally.

Tanzania withdrew the right in November 2019, misleadingly claiming that the court had entertained matters that should have been handled by national courts. Benin and Côte d’Ivoire withdrew in March and April 2020, respectively. Benin disagreed with the court’s order to suspend seizure of an applicant’s property in a dispute with a bank, claiming the order undermined the country’s economic interests and political stability. Côte d’Ivoire was riled by the court’s decision to suspend an international arrest warrant against former Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, and to release on bail 19 detained opposition politicians, claiming the court infringed on its sovereignty.

The decision by countries to hit back at the court for decisions they disagreed with is extremely worrying. African states must refrain from using political muscle against institutions whose very purpose is to ensure justice is available to everyone, regardless of their government’s politics.

Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International's Director for Research and Policy

“The decision by these countries to hit back at the court for decisions they disagreed with is extremely worrying. African states must refrain from using political muscle against institutions whose very purpose is to ensure justice is available to everyone, regardless of their government’s politics,” said Netsanet Belay. 

To date, the African human rights court has issued by far the most judgements against Tanzania. The country also has the highest number of cases pending against it, most of which relate to the right to fair trial.  

Burkina Faso is the only country that has fully complied with the judgments of the African Court. Tanzania has complied partially while Côte d’Ivoire has submitted an implementation report to the court. Benin, Kenya, Libya, and Rwanda, against which judgments have been issued, have not complied at all, some brazenly declaring they would not comply with the court’s orders and judgments.

Dismal compliance and cooperation

Amnesty International rated the overall compliance of African countries to their reporting obligations to the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights as dismal. As of 30 June 2020, only six countries had submitted periodic reports, as required under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Six countries – Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and South Sudan, have never submitted a single report.

Governments responded to only four out of 14 urgent appeals on allegations of human rights violations issued by the African Commission. Most of the urgent appeals issued (57%) were interventions on behalf of human rights defenders. It is however unclear whether the four responses substantively addressed the allegations, or merely acknowledged receipt of the Commission’s communications.

The disruptive effects of COVID-19 have exacerbated problems for Africa’s three human rights bodies, which were already starved of finances and resources.

Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International's Research and Policy Director

Amnesty International’s report notes that many African governments have imposed a range of measures to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, most of which were implemented with the use of excessive force, arbitrary arrests or detention, restrictions on civic space, and blanket denial of the right to seek asylum.

“The disruptive effects of COVID-19 have exacerbated problems for Africa’s three human rights bodies, which were already starved of finances and resources. Despite this, the bodies demonstrated some progress and innovation in some areas of their work, which sharply contrasted with stagnation and retrogression in other areas,” said Netsanet Belay.

People with disabilities and older persons

Shockingly, Amnesty International found that not a single member state of the African Union has yet ratified the Protocol on Persons with Disabilities in Africa, two years after the treaty was adopted. Likewise, almost five years since the Protocol on Older Persons was adopted in January 2016, only two countries – Benin and Lesotho – have ratified it.

“The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights will be 40 years old in 2021. It is disappointing that so many governments are yet to turn their rhetoric into concrete action in support of regional human rights bodies and instruments. It is high time for African Union member states to practically live out their stated commitments to human rights, including by expediting ratification, domestication and implementation of all regional human rights instruments”, said Netsanet Belay.

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The one million figure is a grim reality for the African continent, and one that must spur urgent action from regional and international institutions and leaders alike

Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa

South Africa is the worst hit country, with 500,000 confirmed cases.

“The one million figure is a grim reality for the African continent, and one that must spur urgent action from regional and international institutions and leaders alike. Transparency, testing, treatment and containment measures all need to be urgently improved,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

We are concerned that in some countries, including South Africa which accounts for half of confirmed cases in Africa, test results are taking a dangerously long time to be released

Deprose Muchena

“We are concerned that in some countries, including South Africa which accounts for half of confirmed cases in Africa, test results are taking a dangerously long time to be released. Testing capacity must be significantly improved and strengthened, to ensure that people who may have COVID-19 receive adequate health care and that they are not unwittingly passing on the virus.”

According to the African Union’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is currently at 1,007,366, while 22,066 deaths have been registered. The number of recoveries is at 690,436. However, experts have warned that these numbers could be a significant underestimate, owing to a lack of testing capacity across the continent, with some countries not having enough resources to conduct tests. Other barriers such as poor infrastructure, including roads and the lack of enough hospitals and healthcare workers have been cited as hampering the fight against COVID-19.

With cases increasing sharply, it is important for countries to work together through regional and international cooperation to ensure that human rights, including the right to health, are guaranteed for all people across Africa

Deprose Muchena

“With cases increasing sharply, it is important for countries to work together through regional and international cooperation to ensure that human rights, including the right to health, are guaranteed for all people across Africa. This collaboration should include greater transparency and accountability by governments to establish the true magnitude of the pandemic and the appropriate response, to turn the tide on this crisis,” Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Director for West and Central Africa.

“There is also a need for increased transparency and accountability around the use of financial resources amid reports of corruption and mismanagement of resources allocated for COVID-19. Countries must also strengthen health systems as they continue to respond to the mounting cases.”

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As the world battles the deadly COVID-19 virus, countries across sub-Saharan Africa have taken a number of measures aimed at stopping the spread of the virus in their territories.

However, while efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic are a stark reminder that the right to life is important and must be protected, a new report by Amnesty International on the global use of the death penalty in 2019 shows that some governments in sub-Saharan Africa do not consistently seek to protect the right to life. In fact, in some instances they actively strive to violate it by sentencing people to death or executing them.

In 2019, four countries in the region – Botswana, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – carried out executions in their territories despite a 5% reduction in known executions in the world. Amnesty International confirmed one execution in Botswana, one in Sudan, 11 in South Sudan and 12 in Somalia. These four countries are increasingly gaining notoriety for being sub-Saharan Africa’s persistent executing countries; they were the same countries that carried out executions in 2018 and have consistently done so in the last decade.

The new presidency of Mokgweetsi Masisi, which began in October 2019, has not stemmed the tide of executions in Botswana – Southern Africa’s only remaining executing country. In addition to one execution that was carried out in December 2019, three executions have been carried out so far this year in Botswana.

The situation in South Sudan is even more concerning.Since independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has executed at least 43 people. The 11 executions recorded in the country in 2019 was the highest number in any year since independence and signalled a significant increase in yearly executions in the country. Of the 11 people executed,seven men were executed in February 2019, three of whom were from the same family. The authorities did not even inform the relatives of the men ahead of the execution.

Later in the year, four people were executed; two on 27 September and two on 30 September. One of the two executed on 30 September was a child at the time of the crime. He was about 17 when he was convicted and sentenced to death; an act which goes against international human rights law and South Sudan’s own constitution which prohibits the use of the death penalty against people who were children at the time of the crime.

In an alarming development, the number of confirmed death sentences handed down in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 53%, from 212 in 2018 to 325 in 2019. This was due to increases recorded in 10 countries – Kenya; Malawi; Mauritania; Niger; Nigeria; Sierra Leone; Somalia; Sudan; Zambia and Zimbabwe. Overall, death sentences were confirmed in 18 countries in 2019, an increase of one compared to 2018.

The increase in recorded death sentences in Zambia is quite striking. Government information indicated that 101 people were sentenced to death; that is a huge rise when compared to 2018 when Amnesty International recorded 21 death sentences. In addition, eight people were exonerated by the courts in Zambia; these are people who were initially sentenced of death and could have been executed for a crime they were eventually found not to have committed. This illustrates that trial courts are not perfect and the risk of punishing and executing the innocent can never be eliminated when the death penalty is used.

At the end of the year, at least 5,731 people were known to be on death row in sub-Saharan Africa, with Kenya and Nigeria accounting for 65% of that total. People under sentence of death are particularly at a heightened risk of execution when they have exhausted their right of appeal and there is no official moratorium on executions in place in their countries.

Even where a right of appeal has not been exhausted, a lack of access to effective legal representation; lengthy delays in the appeal process; denial of clemency; and poor prison conditions can make life on death row a particularly harrowing experience for any human being.

Nevertheless, 2019 was not all doom and gloom. Support for the death penalty appears to be dwindling in some countries in the region as positive actions or pronouncements, which may lead to the abolition of the death penalty, were recorded. In the Central African Republic, it was reported that a decision was taken in the National Assembly to examine a bill on the abolition of the death penalty. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea announced that he would submit a bill to abolish the death penalty to the country’s parliament. In November, Gambia’s Constitutional Review Commission published a draft constitution for the country which removed death penalty provisions. In Kenya, the task force set up to review the mandatory death sentence recommended that parliament should abolish the death penalty entirely, while in Zimbabwe the authorities mulled over abolishing the death penalty.

The death penalty is a violation of the right of a human being to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Opposition to the death penalty does not mean one condones crime. Anyone found guilty of a recognizable criminal offence after a fair trial must be held accountable, but the punishment should never be death. Just as governments must fight against deadly diseases, including COVID-19, they must also protect the right to life by abolishing the death penalty.

The post Sub-Saharan Africa must protect lives by abolishing the death penalty appeared first on Amnesty International.

January 

Legal abortion services were finally available to women in Ireland, following an historic referendum in May 2018 that marked a huge victory for women’s rights. It was the result of years of dedicated work by activists, including Amnesty International, to encourage a powerful conversation that helped catalyse the abortion debate in Ireland. This ultimately led to greater protection for those people who need an abortion there, and paved the way for the same inspiring progress in Northern Ireland later in the year.

©Amnesty International / Marianne Bertrand

As a tribute to Julián Carrillo, an environmental rights defender killed in October 2018, we launched Caught between bullets and neglect, a digest on Mexico’s failure to protect environmental human rights defenders. Just a few hours after the launch, two suspects in Julián’s murder were arrested, showing the immediate impact Amnesty’s work can have on justice.

The Angolan Parliament approved a revision of the Criminal Code to remove a provision widely interpreted as criminalizing same-sex relationships. They even took a step further, by criminalizing discrimination against people based on sexual orientation – the first country in 2019 to make this move, and a hearteningly radical move for an African nation.

February

After spending 76 days in detention in Thailand, refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi was able to return to his home in Melbourne on 12 February. The Bahrain-born footballer had been detained upon arrival in Bangkok on 27 November 2018, due to an erroneous Interpol red notice, and faced the threat of extradition to Bahrain. A campaign launched by Amnesty and other groups to free the footballer, who is a peaceful and outspoken critic of the Bahraini authorities, grew into the #SaveHakeem movement. The campaign spanned three continents, engaging footballers, Olympians and celebrities, and drawing the support of more than 165,000 people.

Following international attention and campaigning by Amnesty, Saudi authorities overturned a call by the Public Prosecution to execute Saudi woman activist Israa al-Ghomgham for charges related to her peaceful participation in protests. Israa al-Ghomgham still faces a prison term, and Amnesty continues to campaign for her immediate and unconditional release.  

March

©Amnesty International

In Ukraine, an International Women’s Day rally organized by human rights defender Vitalina Koval in Uzhgorod, western Ukraine, went ahead peacefully, with participants protected by police. The event marked a major change for the region, after similar rallies organised by Koval in previous years had been targeted by far-right groups, with police singularly failing to protect participants from violence.

AFRICOM admitted for the first time that its air strikes have killed or injured civilians in Somalia, after the release of Amnesty’s investigation The Hidden US War in Somalia: Civilian Casualties from Air Strikes in Lower Shabelle. Following this report, US military documents came to light confirming that the US authorities knew of further allegations of civilian casualties resulting from many of their air strikes in Somalia.

©Amnesty International

Gulzar Duishenova had been championing disability rights in her country Kyrgyzstan for years. In March 2019, her persistence paid off when Kyrgyzstan finally signed up to the Disability Rights Convention. Amnesty supporters wrote nearly a quarter of a million messages backing her.

And in Iraq, just days after Amnesty and other NGOs raised the alarm about a draft cybercrime law that would seriously undermine freedom of expression there, the Iraqi parliament chose to withdraw the bill, confirming to Amnesty that its “concerns have been heard”.

April

Getty

In April, love triumphed when a ban on all LGBTI events in Ankara, Turkey, was lifted by the administrative appeals court. “This is a momentous day for LGBTI people in Turkey, and a huge victory for the LGBTI rights activists – love has won once again,” said Fotis Filippou, Campaigns Director for Europe at Amnesty International.

The District Court of The Hague issued an interim ruling in favour of Esther Kiobel and three other women who took on one of the world’s biggest oil companies, Shell, in a fight for justice. Esther has pursued the company for more than 20 years over the role she says it played in the arbitrary execution of her husband in Nigeria. Amnesty has shared over 30,000 solidarity messages with Esther Kiobel, and is supporting her Kiobel vs Shell case in The Hague. As a result of this hearing, the court in October 2019 heard for the first time the accounts of individuals who accuse Shell of offering them bribes to give fake testimonies that led to the ‘Ogoni Nine’ – who included Esther Kiobel’s husband – being sentenced to death and executed.  

President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, announced that his government would introduce legislation to abolish the death penalty.

May

Taiwan became the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage after passing an historic law on 17 May, with the first same-sex weddings taking place on 24 May. Together with LGBTI rights groups from Taiwan, Amnesty had campaigned for this outcome for many years. We are now working to end all discrimination against LGBTI people in Taiwan.

Qatar promised more reforms to its labour laws ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Human rights pressure also played a role in FIFA’s decision to abandon plans to expand the 2022 Qatar World Cup to 48 teams, which would have involved adding new host countries in the region. Amnesty worked together with a coalition of NGOs, trade unions, fans and player groups, calling attention to the human rights risks of the expansion, including the plight of migrant workers building new infrastructure.

June

© Eric de Mildt

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement of schoolchildren were honoured with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award 2019. The Fridays for Future movement was started by Greta, a teenager from Sweden who in August 2018 decided to miss school every Friday and instead protest outside the Swedish parliament, until it took more serious action to tackle climate change.

In a long overdue move, Greece passed legislation to recognize that sex without consent is rape, and Denmark’s government committed to doing the same. This development is testament to the persistence and bravery of survivors and campaigners for many years, and creates real momentum across Europe following 2018 Amnesty’s review of outdated legislation in 31 European countries and other barriers to accessing justice for rape survivors.

From 1 June 2019, contraceptives and family planning clinic consultations became free of charge in Burkina Faso. The change was seen as a response to our 2015 My Body My Rights petition and human rights manifesto calling for these measures to be put in place. With financial barriers removed, women in Burkina Faso now have better access to birth control, and more choice over what happens to their bodies.

July

© Brendan Harkin/Love Equality

In a momentous and inspiring day for human rights campaigners, the UK parliament voted through a landmark bill on 22 July to legalize same sex marriage in Northern Ireland. The bill also forced the UK government to legislate for abortion reform in Northern Ireland, including decriminalization on the basis that a Northern Ireland Executive (government of NI) did not return in three months.

Also in July, in a US Congressional hearing, a senior Google executive gave the clearest confirmation yet that the company has “terminated” Project Dragonfly, its secretive programme to develop a search engine that would facilitate the Chinese government’s repressive surveillance and censorship of the internet. This followed Amnesty’s #DropDragonfly campaign, and hundreds of Google staff speaking out.

On 22 July, 70-year-old human rights defender and prominent Palestinian Bedouin leader Sheikh Sayyah Abu Mdeighim al-Turi was released from prison in Israel, after spending seven months in detention for his role in advocating for the protection of Bedouins’ rights and land. Sheikh Sayyah thanked Amnesty International and all those who took action on his behalf: “I thank you all very much for standing up for the right of my people and the protection of our land. While I was in prison, I felt and heard your support loud and clear, and it meant the world to me.”

August

Mauritanian blogger Mohamed Mkhaïtir, who was sentenced to death and held in arbitrary detention for more than five years after publishing a blog on caste discrimination, finally walked free.

Amnesty International

In August, Saudi Arabia announced major reforms easing some of the major restrictions imposed on women under its repressive male guardianship system, including allowing them the right to obtain a passport which should make it possible for them to travel without permission from a male guardian. The changes also grant women in Saudi Arabia the right to register marriages, divorces, births and deaths and to obtain family records. While we welcome these changes, people campaigning for women’s rights remain in prison, and we must do all we can to fight for their freedom.

September

© Ede Istvan Judt

Syrian national Ahmed H. was finally allowed to return home, after being imprisoned and then held in immigration detention in Hungary for more than four years. He had been arrested on terrorism charges after being caught up in clashes on the Hungarian border. At the time he was helping his elderly parents, who were escaping Syria and were crossing into Hungary as refugees. An amazing 24,000 people joined the #BringAhmedHome campaign, calling on Cyprus to allow Ahmed to return to his family.

A court in Tunis acquitted 18-year-old activist Maissa al-Oueslati, after she faced trumped-up charges that could have resulted in her imprisonment for up to four years. Maissa and her 16-year-old brother had been arbitrarily detained by police earlier in the month for filming a protester threatening to set himself on fire in front of a police station.

October

© PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images

At midnight on Tuesday 22 October 2019, after a last-minute effort by the DUP to overturn the bill, same sex marriage became legal in Northern Ireland, while abortion was decriminalised. All criminal proceedings were dropped, including those against a mother who faced prosecution for buying her 15 year-old daughter abortion pills online.

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Campaign Manager, said it was the beginning of a new era for Northern Ireland, in which the nation was freed from oppressive laws that police people’s bodies and healthcare. “Finally, our human rights are being brought into the 21st century. This will end the suffering of so many people. We can now look forward to a more equal and compassionate future with our choices respected.”

November

©LightRocket via Getty Images

Kurdish-Iranian award-winning journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani arrived in New Zealand to attend a special WORD Christchurch event on a visitor’s visa sponsored by Amnesty International. It was the first time Boochani, known for his work reporting on human rights abuses from within the Australian government’s refugee detention centres, had set foot outside Papua New Guinea since he was detained on the country’s Manus Island in 2014.

©Amnesty International

Humanitarian volunteer Dr Scott Warren was found not guilty by a court in Arizona of charges linked to helping migrants on the US-Mexico border. In a similar case, Pierre Mumber, a French mountain guide who gave hot tea and warm clothes to four West African asylum seekers in the Alps, and was acquitted of “facilitating irregular entry”.

December

Alberto Fernández is inaugurated as President of Argentina on 10 December. As president-elect, Fernández announced he would push for the legalization of abortion as soon as he took office, saying: “It is a public health issue that we must solve.”

The Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights said that 47 major fossil fuel and carbon-polluting companies could be held accountable for violating the rights of its citizens for the damage caused by climate change. The landmark decision paves the way for further litigation, and even criminal investigations, that could see fossil fuel companies and other major polluters either forced to pay damages, or their officials sent to jail for harms linked to climate change.

The regional Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Court of Justice rejected a 2015 ban imposed by the government of Sierra Leone preventing pregnant girls from sitting exams and attending mainstream school – and ordered the policy to be revoked with immediate effect.

The post In a dangerous world, human rights activists have been winning all year appeared first on Amnesty International.

The IMF has a rare opportunity to bring real reform to a government that has been scamming its citizens for decades

Marta Colomer, Amnesty International West and Central Africa senior campaigner

The program preceding the loan agreement and planned conditions for the loan are insufficient to address deep-rooted rights violations, corruption, and related impunity in Equatorial Guinea in line with IMF requirements.

The organizations are Center for Development Studies and Initiatives in Equatorial Guinea (CEIDGE), EG Justice, Human Rights Watch, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Global Witness, Amnesty International, Publish What You Pay, and Oxfam. They are joined by all eight Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Civil Society Board Members.

“Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea is requesting a loan after the country’s political elite allowed human rights abuses, corruption and mismanagement to flourish in the country for years,” said Sarah Saadoun, business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The IMF bail out should require Equatorial Guinea to carry out deep-seated reforms to its handling of natural resources that result in rights improvements, accountability, and transparency.”

The government of Equatorial Guinea reached an agreement with IMF staff for a three-year Extended Fund Facility loan. An IMF spokesperson said that its board of directors will consider the $280 million loan in December. The IMF is funded by member governments using public funds.

Any loan agreement would need to be consistent with the IMF’s new framework for addressing corruption, adopted by the board in April 2018 to remedy past gaps and inconsistencies in addressing corruption. It requires the IMF to assess potential corruption and its macroeconomic implications for each member country and candidly integrate these assessments into its surveillance and conditions.

“Equatorial Guinea is a crucial, public test of the IMF’s anti-corruption strategy and could be a model for how the institution tackles this issue in the future,” said Isabel Munilla, head of policy on extractive industries transparency at Oxfam America.

Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea is requesting a loan after the country’s political elite allowed human rights abuses, corruption and mismanagement to flourish in the country for years

“The government’s continued attacks on good governance activists and organizations throughout the loan negotiation process is one of many indicators that a vote is premature.”

Equatorial Guinea’s vast oil wealth and small population place it among the countries with highest per capita income in Africa, yet endemic mismanagement and corruption have left it financially unprepared for a slump in oil prices and production. Corruption investigations in the United States, Spain, France, Switzerland, South Africa, and elsewhere have exposed how the president and his inner circle have siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds, even as the government spent little on meeting its obligations on rights to health, education, or water to improve the lives of ordinary citizens.

“An international trail of staggering corruption follows the president’s son, who is still vice president, including a recent Swiss corruption investigation that turned up two yachts worth $250 million that he uses as pleasure boats but the government said it owns,” said Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, which promotes human rights and good governance in Equatorial Guinea.

“The fact that Equatorial Guinea’s government would rather saddle the public with debt than sell these yachts says a lot about its spending priorities and the real risk that the IMF money will help subsidize the lavish lifestyles of the elite.”

Prior to beginning loan negotiations, the IMF required Equatorial Guinea to implement several governance-related measures. That included ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in 2018 and hiring an independent firm to audit its state oil company, GEPetrol.

However, it has been unable to complete a requirement to apply to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global standard that requires member countries to advance transparency and allow free civil society participation and public debate around natural resources governance issues. It appears that meeting the requirement will be a loan pre-condition.

Meanwhile, government authorities continued their campaign against CEIDGE, the country’s leading good governance organization, formally dissolving it in July. They also continued to harass its vice president, Alfredo Okenve. These and other instances of repression and rights violations signal that the government is unwilling to make the necessary reforms to become a viable candidate for EITI.

In 2010, the EITI Board rejected Equatorial Guinea’s membership because of repression. Since then, the EITI standard has adopted even more rigorous requirements for governments to respect civil society participation as a key element of its goal of advancing accountability in the natural resource sector.

“Over the past year, while my government has been promising the IMF it is working on an application to EITI, I was beaten up, prevented from leaving the country and placed under house arrest, and my NGO was formally dissolved,” Okenve said. 

“Submitting an EITI application means nothing if the government doesn’t need to prove it has reformed enough to become a candidate country.”

“Joining the EITI is not a box-ticking exercise,” said Elisa Peter, executive director of Publish What You Pay.

“The EITI Standard sets the bar high for transparency in the extractive sector, and for free and meaningful civil society participation. Equatorial Guinea should embrace this opportunity to reform its natural resource sector, tackle corruption, and allow everyone to speak out without harassment or threat. Only then can extraction bring positive change to the lives of its people.”

Equatorial Guinea also lacks a basic legal framework for preventing corruption and holding corrupt officials accountable. The vice president has frequently defended himself against international money laundering accusations by arguing Equatorial Guinea has no laws preventing conflicts of interest by senior officials, a position the government has echoed. The government awards valuable contracts without any transparency regarding the companies and individual who reap millions of dollars, and officials do not need to publicly declare their assets or stakes in companies.

“The IMF has a rare opportunity to bring real reform to a government that has been scamming its citizens for decades,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International West and Central Africa senior campaigner.

“This should be an opportunity to promote human rights and good governance in Equatorial Guinea – in particular to protect freedom of association for independent civil society organizations like CEID and demonstrate support for human rights defenders.”

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Equatorial Guineans who turn 40 this year were born, and grew up, in a country where human rights have been constantly and systematically violated. For too long, people have lived in a climate of fear because of impunity over human rights violations and abuses.

including the jailing of human rights defenders, activists and political opponMarta Colomer, Amnesty International’s West Africa Senior Campaigner.

Equatorial Guineans who turn 40 this year were born, and grew up, in a country where human rights have been constantly and systematically violated. For too long, people have lived in a climate of fear because of impunity over human rights violations and abuses including the jailing of human rights defenders, activists and political opponents on trumped up charges,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s West Africa Senior Campaigner.

“There have been glimpses of hope, like the 2006 law forbidding torture and President’ Nguema’s recent announcement of a draft law to abolish the death penalty. However, unless his government takes meaningful steps to enforce the law, fully respect human rights and end repression, the number of victims of human rights violations in Equatorial Guinea will continue to grow. This must stop”.  

On 14 April 2019, President Nguema announced his intention to submit to parliament a bill to abolish the death penalty in Equatorial Guinea where the last recorded executions occurred in January 2014.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago took power on 3 August 1979 following a coup against President Francisco Masie Nguema. Since then, he has presided over an alarming decline in human rights, including torture, extra judicial executions, arbitrary arrests, and persecution of political activists and human rights defenders, which have been well documented by Amnesty International over the years.

Tortured prisoners hung upside down by the feet

In September 2006, parliament approved a law forbidding torture, which came into force in November of that year, but police regularly continue to torture on detainees to extract confessions. Many of these cases involve opposition members and political activists. Among them is Joaquín Elo Ayeto, an activist and member of the opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy who is currently in detention. He was arrested on 25 February this year at his house in Malabo and taken to the Central Police station. He was beaten severely while at the police station and hung up by his hands. Police wanted him to confess to an alleged plot to kill the president. 

Some egregious cases of torture documented by Amnesty International took place between 1988 and 2009. These include 10 members of the People’s Union (Unión Popular) political party who were arrested and tortured in Bata and Malabo police stations in February and March 2009. One detainee told the investigating magistrate that on one occasion he was tied up on the floor and offered money to “confess”. On another occasion, the police stuffed paper in his mouth, put him in a sack which was then tied and suspended and beat him. Although the detainee named those who reportedly tortured him, there was no investigation, and no one was brought to justice.

Amnesty International also documented the torture of 15 prisoners who were released after their sentences were reduced in a clemency measure in August 1988. Among them was prisoner of conscience Primo Jose Esono Mikali, who had his arms and legs tied together behind him, causing his back to arch painfully. Suspended from the ceiling by a rope, he temporarily lost use of his limbs.

The other prisoners were subjected to similar forms of torture, sometimes with a heavy stone placed on their arched back. Prisoners also described being hung by the feet and having their heads immersed in a bucket of dirty water, partially suffocating them, as well as being tortured with electric shocks. 

 Torture was also inflicted on members of the Bubi ethnic group, the indigenous population of Bioko Island in the northern most part of Equatorial Guinea. In 1998, many Bubi were tortured to extract confessions following their arrest after they launched several attacks on military barracks in which three soldiers and several civilians were killed.  

Amnesty International documented cases of people being interrogated while suspended from the ceiling with their hands and feet bound together. Some people were also tortured at the time of their arrest in reprisal for the attacks. Many others were beaten with rifles, kicked and punched and some had part of their ears severed with razor blades and bayonets.

Bubi women were also publicly humiliated in the courtyard of the police station in Malabo. Some were forced to swim naked in the mud in front of other detainees and others were sexually abused. At least six detainees reportedly died after being tortured.

Extrajudicial executions 

Executions under President Nguema started a month after the coup that brought him to power and have continued, with soldiers and police reportedly carrying out extrajudicial executions.

Death sentences were handed down to seven men, including former President Masie Nguema on 29 September 1979. Less than five hours later they were all executed by firing squad.

On 14 May 2012, a detainee, Blas Engó, was shot at close range by a soldier outside Bata prison as he tried to escape with 46 others during the night. In the same month, a military officer in Bata shot dead Oumar Koné, a Malian national, for refusing to pay a bribe at a road block.

In January 2014, nine men convicted of murder were executed, 13 days before a temporary moratorium on the death penalty was established. 

Children targeted

Even children have not been spared.

On 5 February 2015, dozens of children were among 300 youths arbitrarily arrested and beaten following protests during the African Cup of Nations in Malabo. The majority were arrested in their homes at night, or in streets far from the football stadium.

They were taken to Malabo Central Police Station, where they received 20 to 30 lashes each, and held in overcrowded and poorly ventilated cells occupied by adult criminal suspects. Some detainees were released after their families paid bribes to the police. On 13 February, the detainees appeared in court and all were released without charges.

Human Rights Defenders

More recently, in February 2019, Amnesty International highlighted the authorities’ failure to respect and implement the commitments they had made to ensure the right of human rights defenders, activists and journalists to work in an environment free from intimidation, harassment, violence and arbitrary arrests.

The authorities on 5 July issued a decree calling for the dissolution of the Center for Development Studies and Initiatives (CEID). The 40 years of President Nguema in power have also been characterized by a lack of independence of the judiciary. During all those years many critics and human rights defenders faced unfair trials.

One hundred and twelve people were convicted during a mass trial that took place in the city of Bata for an alleged coup attempt in December 2017. The conviction was full of procedural irregularities and rulings against the defense.

Despite a court ruling calling for his immediate release since April this year Bertin Koovi, a political opponent and activist from Benin continues to be kept in detention by the police in the city of Bata.

For decades, President Nguema’s muzzling of dissent has had a devastating and chilling effect on human rights defenders, journalists and political activists.

Marta Colomer.

“For decades, President Nguema’s muzzling of dissent has had a devastating and chilling effect on human rights defenders, journalists and political activists. They have been persistently targeted solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,” said Marta Colomer.  
“It is time for President Nguema to close this gruesome chapter of his government’s human rights record and usher in a new era where human rights are fully and effectively respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled.”

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The country’s Minister of the Interior and Local Corporations published on 5 July, a decree revoking the authorization granted to the Center for Development Studies and Initiatives (CEID) – one of the few independent NGOs that denounce human rights violations in the country, which the authorities accused of undertaking political activities.

Forcing NGO to close is a blatant violation of the right to freedom of association and shows the lack of commitment by the Equatorial Guinea government to end its long history of harassing and intimidating human rights defenders and civil society activists

Marta Colomer, Amnesty International West Africa Senior Campaigner.

“Forcing NGO to close is a blatant violation of the right to freedom of association and shows the lack of commitment by the Equatorial Guinea government to end its long history of harassing and intimidating human rights defenders and civil society activists,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International West Africa Senior Campaigner.

“By dissolving this NGO and ending its operations, the authorities have demonstrated that they are not serious about ending the persecution of human rights defenders and independent civil society.   Authorities should immediately rescind their decision to dissolve the CEID and allow civil society organizations to carry out their work without fear of reprisals.”

In the decree, the Minister accused the CEID for having undertaken “political activities” in recent years. Authorities said the fact that CEID took part in political activities is not in accordance with the statutes authorizing apolitical organizations. Amnesty International considers the dissolution as a clear violation of the right to freedom of association guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Equatorial Guinea is a state party.   

The move also took place in the context of a 20-year-old legislation regulating non-governmental organizations’ activities, putting several obstacles on their registration process, independence, functioning and development.

Furthermore, human rights defenders in Equatorial Guinea are increasingly under attack on an alarming scale.  In the last three years, several prominent human rights defenders have been targeted, ill-treated and arbitrarily detained.

Examples include the case of Alfredo Okenve who is also the vice-president of the CEID who, in March was arrested after having been banned from receiving in the capital Malabo the “Franco-German prize for human rights” for his work. Amnesty International has documented other instance where he was beaten in October 2018 by unidentified armed men using the butts of their guns and sticks. 

Violations of the rights of human rights defenders occur with repression and crackdown on political activists and the civic space.  Some opposition supporters even face torture when arrested. Joaquín Elo Ayeto, a member of the opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy and member of the Platform Somos+ was subjected to torture at least twice while at Central Police Station after his arrest earlier this year which resulted in physical injuries. He was also threatened with death by police.  At present Joaquín Elo Ayeto remains in preventive detention in Black Beach prison. 

As President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is marking his 40 years in power, Amnesty International is calling on him to ensure that his government moves swiftly to respect, protect, promote and fulfil human rights of everyone in the country including the rights of human rights defenders and civil society activists.

“A first step would be to ensure that his government allows registration of non-governmental organizations and enables their full and independent functioning,” said Marta Colomer.

“The government should also adopt concrete and effective measures to prevent and punish cases of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and civil society activists.”

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“This presidential announcement is a welcome move and, if the death penalty is abolished in Equatorial Guinea, the country will join more than half of the countries in the world that have consigned the cruel punishment to history – where it belongs.

Now that the announcement is made, we hope that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema will immediately take necessary steps to ensure his announcement is implemented without delay. Abolishing the death penalty will be a positive step in improving Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, particularly the protection of the right to life.

Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry, Amnesty International West and Central Africa Director

“Now that the announcement is made, we hope that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema will immediately take necessary steps to ensure his announcement is implemented without delay. Abolishing the death penalty will be a positive step in improving Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, particularly the protection of the right to life.

“We would also like this positive announcement to be followed by others in favour of the protection of freedoms of expression, opinion, association and assembly and for Equatorial Guinea to respect its human rights obligations.

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature of the crime because the death penalty is a violation of the right to life. There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more than prison terms.”

Background

Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema announced yesterday in Praia, Capo Verde, that he will soon submit to the country’s parliament a bill to abolish the death penalty, as required by the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).

The last executions recorded in Equatorial Guinea occurred in January 2014. Nine people convicted of murder were executed some days before the establishment of a temporary moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

In its annual Death Penalty Report, released last week, Amnesty International recorded a dramatic drop in executions worldwide. At least 690 executions took place in 20 countries in 2018, a decrease of 31% compared to 2017 (at least 993). This figure represents the lowest number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in the past decade.

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Authorities in Equatorial Guinea should immediately return his passport and phone to a prominent human rights activist who was banned from leaving the country and then handcuffed, put on a military plane and sent back to his home town, Amnesty International said today, with a call to guarantee his safety and freedom of movement.

Alfredo Okenve was arrested on 15 March after having been banned from receiving in the capital Malabo the “Franco-German prize for human rights” for his work. 

This ban shows how determined the authorities are in restricting Alfredo Okenve’s ability to do his legitimate work in Equatorial Guinea even when he is due to receive an award for his courageous work to defend and promote human rights.

Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner for West Africa

“This ban shows how determined the authorities are in restricting Alfredo Okenve’s ability to do his legitimate work in Equatorial Guinea even when he is due to receive an award for his courageous work to defend and promote human rights,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner for West Africa.

“Sending him back handcuffed on a military plane will not stop Alfredo Okenve and many other activists in the country from standing up for human rights. The authorities should immediately take all necessary measures to lift the restrictions on his freedom of movement and allow him to carry on doing his work safely, without any threats, attacks or other form of harassment.”

Alfredo Okenve, president of the Center for Development Studies and Initiatives (CEID), was informed at the end of last year that he had won the prize awarded by the French and German embassies. He left Bata, his home town, to arrive in the capital Malabo where the award was due to be given to him during a ceremony in the afternoon of 15 March. 

In the morning, two policemen went to the house of Alfredo Okenve’s close relative, arrested and questioned him about the activist’s whereabouts.  When rumours that police were looking for Alfredo started to spread out, the two organizing embassies, France and Germany, decided to cancel the award ceremony. They also had an agreement with the authorities that Alfredo will be allowed to leave the country that day.

At the airport, Alfredo was prevented from boarding the plane and was escorted by eight security agents, handcuffed and put into a military plane and taken to his home town of Bata. Once they arrived, a military officer told him: “The instruction is to stay at home, do not go out of the city.”

Since the weekend, Alfredo is in Bata without his phone and passport which were confiscated at the airport. At least three unidentified individuals have been seen moving around his house doing surveillance. 

The case of Alfredo is illustrative of Equatorial Guinean authorities’ crackdown on activists and human rights defenders. On 25 February, Joaquín Elo Ayeto, activist and member of opposition party Convergencia para la Democracia Social (CPDS), was arbitrarily detained and tortured by security forces, accused of holding information on an alleged coup attempt. In January, the French lawyer William Bourdon who intervened in a case in France against the son of the Equato-Guinean President, was targeted with others by a warrant of arrest for financing of terrorism.

“French and German representatives should emphatically condemn the most recent attack on Alfredo and send a clear message to the authorities that this concerning trend of harassing and attacking human rights defenders would worsen the deteriorating human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea,” said Marta Colomer.

French and German representatives should emphatically condemn the most recent attack on Alfredo and send a clear message to the authorities that this concerning trend of harassing and attacking human rights defenders would worsen the deteriorating human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea

Marta Colomer

“Alfredo Okenve has dedicated his life to campaigning for human rights. That is not a crime and he should not be harassed because of his legitimate work. His passport and phone should also be given back to him and allowed to travel safely.”   

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In a new report published today, while the country chairs until the end of the month the UN Security Council, and ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in May, Amnesty International highlights the authorities’ failure to respect and implement the commitments they made to ensure human rights defenders, activists and journalists work in an environment free from intimidation, harassment, violence and arrests.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, whose country currently chairs the UN Security Council, should take this opportunity to show the world his government is committed to improving its egregious human rights record.

arta Colomer, Amnesty International’s West Africa Campaigner.

“Five years ago, the authorities promised to put an end to harassment, intimidation and arbitrary detention of human rights defenders, activists and members of the opposition. These human rights violations are unfortunately continuing. The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly have been steadily strangled,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s West Africa Campaigner.

“President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, whose country currently chairs the UN Security Council, should take this opportunity to show the world his government is committed to improving its egregious human rights record. A first step would be for the authorities to thoroughly, independently, transparently and effectively investigate all threats and attacks against human rights defenders and activists and bring to justice those suspected to be responsible.”

The report highlights several cases of human rights defenders targeted in the last five years. They include Alfredo Okenve, the vice president of the Center for Development Studies and Initiatives (CEID) who was beaten on 27 October 2018 by unidentified armed men using the butts of their guns and sticks. They later took his wallet with his documents and mobile phone, before abandoning him in a remote area outside of Bata, a city in the Littoral Province.

Prior to this attack, Alfredo Okenve and Enrique Asumu, the president of CEID, were arrested and interrogated by the National Security Minister, a day after the authorities had prevented Asumu from boarding a flight from the capital Malabo to the city of Bata. The activists were not brought before a judge within 24 hours, nor were they charged within 72 hours, as provided for by law. They were finally released.

Ramón Esono Ebalé cartoonist and activist whose work is perceived to be critical of the human rights situation in the country has been living abroad for several years. He returned to Equatorial Guinea in August 2017 to renew his passport and was arrested on 16 September when leaving a restaurant with two Spanish nationals.

The three of them were handcuffed, had their mobile phones confiscated and were questioned by more than a dozen security agents, regarding their reason for being in the country and the relationship among them.  The two Spanish nationals were released. Ramón’s charge of “counterfeiting money” was dropped when the main witness retracted his testimony against him and admitted that he had been asked to falsely accuse Ramón of counterfeiting activities. Ramón Esono was released on 7 March 2018.  However, he was not able to leave Equatorial Guinea until 28 May 2018, when he finally received his new passport.

The report also documents how opposition members and political activists are targeted. Among them is Joaquin Elo Ayeto, a member of the opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy. He has been detained several times, including on 29 November 2016 when two military officers severely beat him after he had posted an online article about the refusal by one of the officers to pay a road toll. After this incident, Ayeto sued the two officers. He was told by a judge that his article was giving a bad image to the country.

He was then arrested and detained for more than a month. For the first five days of his detention he was held in solitary confinement. When the judicial year resumed, the court decided to release him. He has never been told why he was detained.  On 27 June 2017, Joaquin Elo was again arrested for taking part in an event calling for justice for the killing of a young taxi driver. He was released a week later.  

It is time for Equatorial Guinea to abide by its international human rights obligations including by ensuring full respect for the rights of human rights defenders and activists.

Marta Colomer

“For many years, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema’s government has persistently engaged in serious violations of human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. These must stop now,” said Marta Colomer.

“It is time for Equatorial Guinea to abide by its international human rights obligations including by ensuring full respect for the rights of human rights defenders and activists.”

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