Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | President John Magufuli has presided over a crackdown on media and civil society in Tanzania that has seriously undermined democratic freedoms as the country approaches elections, global rights groups said Monday. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tanzania was backsliding under Magufuli, whose …
Read More »HRW: ‘Abducted’ Zimbabwean doctors’ union activist found alive but disoriented
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwean doctors’ union leader whose suspected kidnapping sparked protests by medics in the capital Harare has been found alive, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. Peter Magombeyi had been missing since Saturday night, with his Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) saying he was taken because …
Read More »In gloomy times, rights body sees ‘striking’ pushback against abuses
Berlin, Germany | AFP | A growing pushback against human rights abusers and autocrats has emerged in the last year, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, with resistance coming from a number of new sources. Smaller countries and groups like the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation are stepping up and taking …
Read More »Human Rights Watch concerned by attacks on Rights Groups
Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | – Human Rights Watch has criticized Uganda police for what they describe as failure to bring to book any suspects in the recent break-ins targeting Rights Groups offices in Kampala. In the latest incident, Ugandan rights organization Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) was …
Read More »HRW urges review of Moroccan activist’s jail sentence
Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Human Rights Watch called on Morocco Tuesday to urgently reexamine the sentencing of an activist to five years in prison based on a confession that it said may have been coerced. El Mortada Iamrachen, a 31-year-old member of a protest movement in Morocco’s neglected northern …
Read More »HRW condemns summary executions in eastern Libya
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned a series of summary executions of dozens of people in areas of eastern Libya under the control of controversial strongman Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The New York-based watchdog called on Haftar’s Libyan National Army to make good on a …
Read More »Trump policy harming Kenya, Uganda health services
Expanded Trump ‘Mexico City’ policy causing cuts in HIV, Reproductive Care in East Africa Washington, US | THE INDEPENDENT | Early effects of United States restrictions to global health aid will include cuts to essential health services in Kenya and Uganda, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned. Human Rights Watch has …
Read More »HRW accuses Mali, Burkina troops of sweeping rights abuses
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Malian and Burkinabe soldiers have killed, tortured and disappeared civilians while trying to root out jihadists in central Mali, Human Rights Watch said Friday. “Mali and Burkina Faso military operations to counter the growing presence of Islamist armed groups in central Mali have resulted in …
Read More »Nalufenya: Where innocents are tortured to confess
Stories from victims of police brutality put Kayihura, Muhoozi, Museveni on the spot March 23 started like an ordinary day for Godfrey Musisi, 52, until, out of nowhere, police officers descended on his compound in a Kampala city suburb. A few hours later, he was a prisoner in the notorious …
Read More »UPDF facing allegations of sexual abuse in CAR
The UPDF concluded its tour of duty in Central African Republic (CAR) in April but looks like it has to answer allegations of sexual abuse against some of its officers. A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) cites 16 cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by the Ugandan army …
Read More »