Africa

In East Africa human rights defenders have found themselves under attack either because of ongoing conflicts or because of political tensions linked to elections.

Human rights defenders working on behalf of women's and LGBTI rights have continued to be the target of harassment. Given the work being done by these groups on the issue of HIV/Aids this has had a serious negative impact on the response to the pandemic. In Nigeria a proposed law would outlaw same sex relations and marriage and would also ban the registration of any NGO seeking to work on this issue, including the provision of lengthy terms of imprisonment for attempting to do so. The Executive Director of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria was dismissed for criticising the government and denouncing a series of attacks on journalists.

In Equatorial Guinea it remains almost impossible for human rights defenders to operate given the complete hostility of the government. In Congo Brazzaville human rights defenders who campaigned for accountability re monies paid to petrol companies have been sentenced to one years imprisonment.

A very positive development has been the continued growth in activism by human rights defenders and in particular the development of regional networks. New regional networks have been established in Pretoria in the eastern Horn region and in central and west Africa

While there have been some improvements in DRC the situatiion remains volatile and human rights defenders remain at risk – in July 2005 Pascal Kabungulu, Executive Secretary of the human rights organization Heritiers de Justice, was shot dead and the investigation and prosecution of those involved has been stalled. The situation for human rights defenders has dereriorated in Burundi, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic

In Zimbabwe the government of President Mugabe continued to harass and violently attack human rights defenders while in Rwanda the government has sought to silence independent voices and some human rights defenders have had to go into exile to escape the risk of being attacked. The government of Sudan has continued to use the legal system to intimidate human rights defenders who have also been threatened and attacked in Darfur.

In Eritrea the space for human rights defenders to operate has been severely restricted and human rights defenders and independent journalists have been detained for years in secret prisons without charge or trial. In Uganda journalists and environmentalists have been targetted while in Somalia and Somaliland journalists have also been attacked. Attacks on human rights defenders have varied from the introduction of repressive legislation to prevent them going about their work to arbitrary arrest and unfair trials in Angola, Cameroon and Somalia.

Life for human rights defenders is made even more difficult by the ongoing conflicts in countries like Sudan, Chad and Somalia or the instability of recently post conflict situations in DRC and Ivory Coast. In the Central African Republic human rights defenders who highlight human rights abuses by the various rebel factions have been targetted.