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Former Chad Dictator Habré’s Dead, Victims Still Await Compensation

Habré was Convicted in Historic Trial in Senegal

Former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré died of Covid-19 on August 24 in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, where he was serving a life sentence for serious international crimes. He was held accountable following a landmark effort to ensure justice for his role…
A man in a white hat surrounded by soldiers
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Hissène Habré’s Victims Continue Fight for Reparations

Five Years After Chadian Dictator’s Guilty Verdict, Victims Still Await Justice

Five years ago, on May 30, 2016, an African Union-backed court in Dakar, Senegal, convicted former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture, including sexual violence and rape. The court sentenced him to life…
Victims of former Chad dictator Hissène Habré demonstrate reparations
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A Call for Justice in Africa’s Great Lakes Region

Nairobi Conference Commits to Greater Efforts to Fight Impunity, Defend Rights

Last week, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss “combating impunity and upholding human rights as key contributors to peace and security.” Representatives from the organization’s 12…
Jean Baptiste Nguondija, a resident of Ngbada, Central African Republic, by the grave of his 10 year-old daughter Nathana Poura. Nguondija has lost 5 children since the conflict began in 2013.
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AU's 'ICC Withdrawal Strategy' Less than Meets the Eye

Opposition to Withdrawal by States

The African Union made headlines Tuesday for purportedly agreeing to mass withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. The reality is more complex. The decision by AU member states welcomes the announced withdrawals by South Africa,…
A general view shows the headquarters of the African Union (AU) building in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, January 29, 2017.
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Dispatches: Hissène Habré Sentenced to Life for Atrocities

Over 25 years ago, Souleymane Guengueng, a deeply religious civil servant who watched dozens of his cellmates succumb to torture and disease in Hissène Habré’s Chadian prisons, took an oath that if he ever got out of jail alive, he would bring his…
Hissène Habré
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Dispatches: You’re Not the Victim Here, Mr Habré

He stood up, he shouted, he waved his arms about... but everything he did just reminded everyone in the courtroom that he’s not in charge anymore and doesn’t call the shots. This morning saw the dramatic re-opening of the…
Clement Abaifouta, Souleymane Guengueng and Abdourahmane Guèye, stand outside of the courthouse where the trial of Hissène Habré will be held, on July 13, 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. The trial is set to begin on July 20, 2015. © 2015 Human Rights Watch
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Dispatches: Justice for Victims of Charles Taylor’s Crimes, At Last

Charles Taylor is staying in prison. A United Nations-backed court today delivered an appeals judgment affirming the original verdict against the former Liberian president, upholding his 50-year sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity…
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Dispatches: In Sierra Leone, Out of the Shadows and Back Again

Sierra Leone passed up a chance today for victims of its brutal civil war to see justice done. Ibrahim Bah, an alleged arms dealer to the notoriously brutal Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during the war, was supposed to face the music in court.…
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Justice in Congo

A Victory for Congo's Children

Yesterday in The Hague, the International Criminal Court (ICC) found the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of recruiting and using child soldiers under age 15 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making him the ICC’s first convicted war criminal.…
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A Trial Sends a Message Around the World

On October 30, 2008, justice for victims of atrocities committed during the course of Liberia's long and brutal years of armed conflict took a major step forward in a very unlikely location: Miami, Florida. On that afternoon, an American jury issued its…
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Convictions for War Crimes in Sierra Leone

On June 20, the special war crimes court for Sierra Leone handed down its first three convictions of members of a rebel group, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. In her sentencing statement, the judge noted that the three convicted were “responsible…
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Sierra Leone: Ex-leader of Liberia to War Crimes Court

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was captured as he attempted to escape Nigeria on March 29, and he was transferred to the U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone. Human Rights Watch played a leading role in pressing government and U.N.…
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Chad: HRW Removes Torturer from U.N

A known Chadian torturer, Mahamat Djibrine, was recalled from his United Nations post in Côte d'Ivoire after Human Rights Watch lodged a complaint with the United Nations. In the 1980s under the abusive government of Chadian dictator Hissène Habré,…
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Belgian Senate Committee Passes International Justice Proposals

On January 22, the Justice Committee of the Belgian Senate passed two important proposals. The first aims at restoring the 1993 universal jurisdiction law to its original scope, while the second aims to adapt the same law to the new International Criminal…
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Justice Comes to Chad

There has been a major breakthrough in the case against the former Chadian dictator Hissèe Habré who has been living in comfortable exile in Senegal since he left power in 1990. In January 2000, Human Rights Watch, working with Chadian groups, initially…
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Justice in Colombia

In July 1997, paramilitaries working with the Colombian Army killed more than thirty residents of Mapirip醤, Meta. Army general Jaime Usc醫egui was implicated in the massacre and sentenced by a military tribunal to serve only forty months in prison. In a…
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Take Action Now: Crisis in Colombia

On July 10, Human Rights Watch issued a public letter to Manuel Marulanda, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (known as the FARC), Colombia's main rebel group. Based on a HRW mission to territory in Colombia…
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Colombian Military Officer Prosecuted for Atrocities

A Colombian Army officer whose links with abusive paramilitary groups was a focus of our February 2000 report, "The Ties That Bind: Colombia and Military-Paramilitary Links," is now being prosecuted by civilian courts, in part due to the high profile…

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