Report: Africa's civic space remains mostly repressive

The annual report, titled “People Power Under Attack 2024,” says civic space has improved over the past year in Botswana and Liberia, but gotten worse in Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Conditions for civil society have deteriorated over the past year in nine countries, four of which are in Africa, and general civic space conditions in the African continent remain “repressive,” according to CIVICUS, which tracks the state of civic freedoms of 198 countries.

Sylvia Mbataru, a human rights lawyer and CIVICUS researcher, said almost 900 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in politically repressed societies.

"Almost 70 percent of the population in Africa south of the Sahara is now living within a repressed civic space,” Mbataru said.

“That means a big majority of the continent are not able to access their rights, are not able to speak out anymore, are not even able to engage in meaningful democracy efforts and governance efforts. So this is a really concerning figure to have."

Many governments in Africa have curtailed people's rights, the report says, and their security forces have committed violations against protesters, human rights defenders, and journalists.

Authorities are accused of disrupting peaceful protests by force, detaining demonstrators, and prosecuting human rights defenders, protesters and journalists.

Kenya’s ranking was downgraded from “obstructed” to “repressed” due to the government crackdown on nationwide protests in June and July, which were sparked by a proposed finance bill that sought to raise taxes.

According to rights groups, more than 60 people were killed during the protests in Kenya and dozens more are missing. They blame the killings on Kenyan security agencies, a claim denied by the government.

Thirty-eight-year-old Edith Kamau lost her son during anti-tax protests in Kenya.

She agrees with the report that her country's human rights record and civic space are not good, saying that no one — rich or poor — is safe and secure. Even well-to-do people are being abducted, she said, and the current president is not good for his people.

Kamau said her son's body was recovered from a government building, per a police report, but she and her family have yet to get justice.

The post-mortem report showed her son was shot at close range during the protests, and officers told her the weapons used were carried exclusively by special forces, but she said she has been kept in the dark about what really happened.

The CIVICUS report downgraded Burkina Faso’s status from “obstructed” to “repressed.” Eswatini and Ethiopia were downgraded from “repressed” to “closed,” meaning authorities there tolerate almost no public dissent or demonstrations.

Despite many African countries restricting civic space, some are making progress in allowing political expression and defense of human rights.

According to the researchers, civic space and freedom are “open” in seven African countries, including Botswana and Liberia, which have improved their conditions in the past year.

Liberia witnessed a peaceful power transfer late last year, and CIVICUS says it noted fewer violations in press freedom and peaceful assembly areas.

In Botswana, the ruling party, which had governed the country since 1966, was voted out in the October presidential elections.

Even before then, says CIVICUS, civil society groups were allowed to push back against proposed constitutional changes.