In 2025, leaders across several West African nations have tightened their grip on power, leading to a significant escalation in the suppression of fundamental freedoms.
Throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, civilians and essential infrastructure have faced repeated attacks from both armed Islamist groups and government forces with their allies. Concurrently, the region’s military juntas have undermined accountability for abuses by expelling regional and international bodies and weakening oversight institutions.
The military juntas ruling in the Sahel have ramped up their crackdown on freedom of expression and other liberties, showing little regard for their pledges to transition toward democracy. There is a pressing need for greater regional efforts to compel West African authorities to open up political and democratic space and safeguard the human rights of their populations.
The increasing authoritarian trend seen across the globe presents a generational challenge. The current human rights system is under unprecedented threat, necessitating a strategic alliance between rights-respecting democracies and civil society to defend fundamental freedoms.
- The authorities in Niger and Mali have put forward proposals to extend their respective democratic transition periods by five years, while also outlawing multi-party political systems. In Chad, presidential term limits have been abolished.
- Governments have persistently clamped down on freedom of expression, dissent, and the media. In Burkina Faso and Mali, journalists, activists, and critics of the ruling juntas have faced arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, or illegal conscription. Political opponents and prominent figures have been targeted for speaking out. Meanwhile, Nigerian authorities have arrested and prosecuted journalists and social media users, often using a broad interpretation of the country’s cybercrime law. In Niger, former President Mohamed Bazoum continues to be held in arbitrary detention without trial. In Chad, former prime minister and opposition leader Succès Masra was sentenced to a 20-year prison term 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), have carried out massacres of civilians in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Furthermore, summary executions of Fulani civilians have been conducted by Burkinabè armed forces, pro-government militias, Malian armed forces, and the Russia-backed Wagner group, which now operates as “Africa Corps”.
- In Nigeria, deadly attacks on civilians in Borno State have signaled a resurgence of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad faction of Boko Haram. In the country’s northwest, bandit gangs have continued to commit murders, kidnappings, and violent raids, as the government fails to protect communities or hold those responsible accountable.
- Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have advanced their strategy of disengagement by finalizing their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). They have also announced their intention to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that severely jeopardizes access to justice for victims of abuse.
The African Union and other regional and international bodies must intensify their efforts to protect civilians from attacks and human rights violations.