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There are at least three things that Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger all have in common besides being neighbors in the Sahel region of Africa.
One, they are all run by military juntas.
Two, those military juntas are all committing serious human rights abuses, including atrocities. Conflict-related abuses against civilians, in particular, are rife in the region, as well as restrictions of civil and political rights.
Three, they have all now officially left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
That third point has more in common with the first two than may be apparent at first glance.
Within ECOWAS, there’s an institution known as the Community Court of Justice. Since 2005, this Court has had jurisdiction to hear human rights cases brought by citizens of member states. People don’t even have to go through their local courts first; they can go straight to ECOWAS’s Community Court of Justice.
The Court has issued landmark decisions on human rights issues, including in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
So, you can see at least one reason why the military juntas in these countries – whose security forces are committing grave human rights abuses – would want to pull out of ECOWAS. It helps them evade accountability by putting such crimes outside the jurisdiction of the Court.
How convenient for them.
It’s not at all convenient for the victims of the military juntas’ abuses and atrocities. They lose a key pathway to justice.
They’ve already lost their local and national pathways, of course. Authorities under the military juntas in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger barely investigate, much less prosecute, security forces, armed groups, and others responsible for grave offenses committed during the ongoing armed conflicts.
Now, victims have even fewer options.
In the new confederation formed by the three countries, it’s clear justice and accountability are not priorities.
A political activist from Mali, now in exile in France, summed it up for HRW last week:
“Since they came to power by force, these military governments have systematically failed to hold people responsible for egregious human rights abuses... This latest move only confirms their disregard for human rights and the rule of law.”
