In 2025, leaders across several West African nations escalated their clampdown on civil liberties while consolidating their hold on power, as detailed in the Human Rights Watch World Report 2026.
Throughout Nigeria and the Sahel region, both armed Islamist groups and government forces, along with their allies, have repeatedly attacked civilians and non-military infrastructure. At the same time, the Sahel’s military juntas have expelled regional and international bodies, effectively weakening institutions responsible for ensuring accountability for abuses.
“The military junta leaders in the Sahel have intensified their suppression of free speech and other fundamental rights, showing little concern for their promised transitions to democracy,” stated Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Greater regional efforts are essential to pressure West African authorities into creating political and democratic space and to protect the human rights of their citizens.”
In its 36th edition, the 529-page World Report from Human Rights Watch analyzes human rights conditions in more than 100 countries. The introductory essay by Executive Director Philippe Bolopion identifies breaking the wave of authoritarianism sweeping the globe as a generational challenge. As the human rights system faces unprecedented threats from the Trump administration and other world powers, Bolopion urges rights-respecting democracies and civil society to forge a strategic alliance to protect fundamental freedoms.
- Authorities in Niger and Mali proposed extending their democratic transition periods by five years and have banned multi-party politics. In Chad, presidential term limits were abolished.
- Governments persistently restricted freedom of expression, dissent, and the media. In Burkina Faso and Mali, journalists, activists, and critics of the juntas were arbitrarily detained, subjected to enforced disappearances, or illegally conscripted, while political figures were targeted for speaking freely. In Nigeria, authorities arrested and prosecuted journalists and social media users, often leveraging a broad application of the cybercrime law. In Niger, former president Mohamed Bazoum remains arbitrarily detained without trial. In Chad, former prime minister and opposition leader Succès Masra was sentenced to 20 years in prison on politically motivated charges.
- Two armed Islamist groups, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM or Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Sahel (ISS), massacred civilians in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Burkinabè armed forces, pro-government militias, Malian armed forces, and the Russian-backed Wagner group, now called “Africa Corps,” summarily executed civilians of the Fulani ethnic group.
- In Nigeria, deadly attacks on civilians in Borno State indicated a resurgence of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad faction of Boko Haram. Meanwhile, in the northwest, bandit gangs continued to carry out killings, abductions, and violent raids while the government fails to protect communities or hold perpetrators accountable.
- Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso advanced their disengagement strategy by finalizing their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and announcing their departure from the International Criminal Court (ICC), severely undermining access to justice for victims of abuse.
The African Union and other regional and international bodies must increase their efforts to shield civilians from attacks and violations of human rights, Human Rights Watch stated.
