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Amnesty International Report 2017/18
credible. In June, the UN Human Rights Council decided to dispatch a team of international
experts to DRC to help in investigations. In July, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
appointed a team of three experts whose findings were expected in June 2018.
In Ethiopia, the police and army continued to enjoy impunity for violations committed in 2015
and 2016. The government rejected calls for independent and impartial investigations into
violations committed in the context of protests in various regional states.
The Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal upheld the conviction and sentence of life
imprisonment of former Chadian President Hissène Habré for war crimes, crimes against
humanity and torture.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Burundi became the first State Party to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC in October.
Despite this, in November, the Pre-Trial Chamber made public its decision to authorize the ICC
Prosecutor to open an investigation regarding crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court
allegedly committed in Burundi – or by nationals of Burundi outside the country – between
April 2015 and October 2017.
However, developments in Africa suggested a tempering of the rhetoric calling for withdrawal
from the ICC. The AU adopted a decision in January, which despite its misleading title,
outlined plans for engagement with the ICC and other stakeholders. More encouragingly,
member states – including Senegal, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Malawi, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia
and Liberia – expressly stated their support for the ICC and rejected any notion of mass
withdrawal.
Gambia’s new government revoked its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, while Botswana’s
Parliament passed a bill incorporating the Rome Statute into domestic law.
In March, the South African government announced it would revoke its 2016 notice of
intention to withdraw from the Rome Statue after the North Gauteng High Court decision held
that withdrawal from the ICC without consulting Parliament was unconstitutional and invalid.
However, a draft bill to repeal the Rome Statue Domestication Act was introduced to
Parliament in early December 2017, signalling the government’s intention to pursue its
decision to leave the ICC.
Meanwhile, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber ruled that South Africa should have executed the
arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir during his 2015 visit to the country.
The ruling confirmed that President Al-Bashir did not have immunity from arrest and that any
states party to the Rome Statute were obliged to arrest him if he entered their territory, and
hand him over to the Court.
In its December preliminary report, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC announced that it
was continuing its analysis of the potential eight crimes it had previously identified as having
been allegedly committed in Nigeria, as well as gathering evidence on new crimes, but was yet
to reach a decision on whether to open an investigation.
DISCRIMINATION AND MARGINALIZATION
Discrimination, marginalization and abuse of women and girls – often arising from cultural
traditions and institutionalized by unjust laws – continued in a number of countries. Women
and girls were subjected to rape and other sexual violence, including in the context of conflicts
and in countries with large numbers of refugee and internally displaced populations.
Pregnant girls continued to be excluded from school in countries including Sierra Leone and
Equatorial Guinea. In June, Tanzania’s President announced a ban on pregnant girls returning
to public-funded schools – fuelling stigma and discrimination against girls and victims of
sexual violence.
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Gender-based violence against women and girls was prevalent in several countries including
Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland.
In countries including Burkina Faso, lack of medical equipment, medication and staffing in
hospitals left pregnant women and infants at serious risk of birth complications, infection and
death. Female genital mutilation rates decreased; however, despite being outlawed, the
practice remained widespread.
Unsafe abortions contributed to one of Africa’s highest rates of maternal death and injury in
Liberia, where affordable and accessible abortion services were largely unavailable to rape
survivors.
Despite its progressive abortion laws, women and girls faced substantial barriers to legal
abortion services in South Africa and faced serious risks to health, and even death, from
unsafe abortions. The government failed to address the refusal of health care professionals to
provide abortions.
In Angola, the government proposed an amendment to the Penal Code, which would
decriminalize abortion in certain limited cases, but Parliament rejected the proposal. After a
public outcry, the parliamentary vote on the legislation was postponed indefinitely.
PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM
Superstitions about the magical powers of people with albinism fuelled a surge of attacks
against them; in Malawi and Mozambique, they were abducted and killed for their body parts.
In Mozambique, a seven-year-old boy was murdered when unidentified men abducted him
from his home. Despite public outcry, the government took little action.
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE
LGBTI people faced discrimination, prosecution, harassment and violence, including in
Senegal, Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria. In Ghana, the parliamentary Speaker called for a
constitutional amendment to make homosexuality illegal and punishable by law. In Liberia, a
man arrested in 2016 and charged with “voluntary sodomy” under the Penal Code, remained
in detention awaiting trial. In Nigeria, arrest, public shaming, extortion of and discrimination
against individuals based on their sexual orientation were reported.
In a landmark decision in Botswana, a High Court ordered the government to change the
gender marker in the identity document of a transgender woman, ruling that its refusal to do
so was unreasonable and in violation of her rights.
RIGHT TO HOUSING AND FORCED EVICTIONS
Amid increasing urbanization, unemployment, poverty and inequality, many countries failed to
ensure accessible, affordable and habitable housing.
A landslide at a vast rubbish dump on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital caused 115 deaths.
Most of the victims lived next to the site and supported themselves by recycling rubbish.
At least 10 people, including two children, were also killed in a landslide at a rubbish dump
in Guinea.
In Lagos state in Nigeria, authorities forcibly evicted at least 5,000 people from the Otodo-
Gbame and Ilubirin waterfront neighbourhoods, while security services fired tear gas and live
bullets to clear the area. The forced evictions were in violation of a High Court order restraining
authorities from carrying out demolitions in these communities.
On the other hand, a High Court ruling in Nigeria declared the planned demolition of Mpape
settlement in Abuja illegal, thereby offering relief to hundreds of thousands of residents. The
Court ruled that the authorities were obliged to refrain from forced evictions and should
develop policies to implement the right to adequate housing.