HUMAN RIGHTS - The African Mirror

Mar

27

2026

In conversation with Funke Adeoye on detainees’ rights in Nigeria

HUMAN RIGHTS

PRE-TRIAL detention is one of the most persistent issues in Africa’s judicial system. Globally, the scale of pretrial detention continues to rise. More than three million people are currently held without conviction across 218 countries, according to the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research. These are individuals who have been detained through judicial or legal processes but have not been sentenced, many of whom have been held for months or years as cases move slowly through overstretched systems. Africa sits at the sharp edge of this crisis. In about half of all countries on the continent, more than 40%…

Mar

19

2026

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

In conversation with Funke Adeoye on detainees’ rights in Nigeria

HUMAN RIGHTS

PRE-TRIAL detention is one of the most persistent issues in Africa’s judicial system. Globally, the scale of pretrial detention continues to rise. More than three million people are currently held without conviction across 218 countries, according to the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research. These are individuals who have been detained through judicial or legal processes but have not been sentenced, many of whom have been held for months or years as cases move slowly through overstretched systems. Africa sits at the sharp edge of this crisis. In about half of all countries on the continent, more than 40%…

Feb

19

2026

By BARNEY WALSH and BARNEY WALSH

Kizza Besigye: the firebrand who has shaped opposition politics in Uganda

HUMAN RIGHTS

UGANDA’S Kizza Besigye has been described as possibly the most arrested man in Africa. Besigye was once President Yoweri Museveni’s ally and personal physician. He broke ranks with Museveni in 1999 and emerged as the most long-standing political opponent to the ageing president, who has run the country since 1986. For this, Besigye has been jailed, kept under house arrest, renditioned, forced into exile, and endured state violence countless times. He has been in jail since 2024. Barney Walsh and Dennis Jjuuko have studied Besigye’s remarkable political career. Who is Kizza Besigye? Kizza Besigye was born in Rukungiri district, south-western…

Jan

23

2026

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s opposition leader’s wife’s appeal to Museveni as his health deteriorates

HUMAN RIGHTS

WHEN Winnie Byanyima rushed to a medical clinic in the early hours of January 20th to find her husband shaking with fever and guarded by six prison officers and a concealed military intelligence agent, the scene crystallised what human rights observers have long documented: Uganda's treatment of political opposition has crossed from suppression into life-threatening territory. Dr. Kizza Besigye, the country's most prominent opposition figure, has now spent over a year in detention following his November 2024 abduction from neighboring Kenya, a cross-border seizure that violated international law and set the stage for what his wife describes as "choreographed cruelty"…

Aug

15

2025

By The African Mirror

The Unbreakable Spirit: Ugandan Kizza Besigye’s defiance against state power

HUMAN RIGHTS

IN the corridors of power where loyalty once flourished, betrayal now casts its longest shadow. Dr. Kizza Besigye, once a trusted physician who tended to President Yoweri Museveni's health, now finds himself the target of the very state machinery he once served. Their transformation from allies to adversaries tells the story of Uganda's democratic decay - and of one man's extraordinary courage in the face of overwhelming state power. The irony cuts deep: the man who once saved Museveni's life now threatens his political survival. Besigye, who served as Museveni's personal doctor and close confidant during the bush war that…

Mar

22

2025

By MAMADOU TAPILY

A Malian journalist, a fabled festival, and a search for truth in a time of crisis

EDITORS CHOICE, HUMAN RIGHTS

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Mamadou Tapily I can remember many moments of wonder from my youth. I recall gathering by moonlight in my village to hear fireside tales about people singing with trees, and about foxes that somehow spoke our language. It felt like watching television. I remember learning about our culture – our long greetings, our deep ties to the natural world, and the importance of respecting our elderly. But there is one memory that stands out more than most: being told the story of Sigui, the greatest ceremony and one of the most…

Jul

24

2024

By PENELOPE ANDREWS

Gender apartheid: oppression of women should be made a crime against humanity – feminist academic explains why

HUMAN RIGHTS

CRIMES against humanity are occurring with impunity around the globe; from Myanmar to Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere. And yet, unlike international treaties for the crimes of genocide, torture, apartheid and forced disappearances, there isn’t a treaty specific to crimes against humanity. That lack is now being remedied. The International Law Commission, a UN expert body, has submitted draft articles for a treaty to the UN’s Sixth Committee. This is the main forum for considering legal questions in the UN General Assembly. The intention is to give countries more legal tools to hold accountable those who commit crimes against humanity. It…

Apr

05

2024

By The African Mirror

UN rights body adopts first resolution to protect rights of intersex people

HUMAN RIGHTS

THE United Nations Human Rights Council voted to adopt a resolution designed to protect the rights of intersex people, the first initiative of its kind that diplomats and rights groups described as a landmark moment for human rights. Twenty-four countries voted in favour, twenty-three abstained and none voted against the resolution, which was spearheaded by Finland, South Africa, Chile and Australia. The U.N. has cited experts as saying that 1.7% of babies are born intersex, defined as having sex characteristics that do not fit binary notions of male or female. The resolution calls on states to "combat discrimination, violence and…

Nov

28

2023

By The African Mirror

UK’s failed asylum deportation plan puts Rwanda’s human rights and refugee struggles in the spotlight

HUMAN RIGHTS

THE UK Supreme Court ruled on 15 November 2023 that sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The plan would have seen tens of thousands of asylum seekers sent from the UK to Rwanda, which would then process and host such refugees indefinitely. EVAN EASTON-CALABRIA, Senior Researcher at the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, and Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford Along with countless refugee and human rights groups – including the United Nations – I raised red flags about the plan and welcomed the decision to halt it. My research and work over more than…

Oct

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Mauritius is the latest nation to decriminalise same-sex relations in a divided continent

HUMAN RIGHTS, LGBTQIA+

THE Mauritius Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a law that criminalises consensual same-sex acts between adult men. The decision boosts the trend in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region towards decriminalisation. Now, a slight majority – nine out of 16 member states – do not prohibit gay and lesbian sexual relations. I have researched and taught human rights law in Africa, including the rights of sexual minorities, for over three decades, and closely follow the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. FRANS VILJOEN, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights,…