RATING OVERVIEW

Civic space conditions in Africa3 remain highly restrictive: 44 out of 49 countries are rated as obstructed, repressed, or closed. This means that the vast majority of people in the region face significant restrictions in exercising civic space freedoms. Only in the island states of Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Principe is civic space open, while Mauritius, Namibia and Seychelles have narrowed civic space.

In West Africa, civic space violations in Guinea and Mali, both under military rule, have increased, with a protracted blanket protest ban in Guinea and tighter control of CSOs in Mali. Ghana, long lauded as a regional champion for its respect of civic and democratic freedoms, sees its civic space rating downgraded to obstructed as media freedom has been severely curtailed, with increasing physical attacks on journalists and the use of ‘false news’ regulations to arrest journalists. Meanwhile, a draconian anti-LGBTQI+ law has been under consideration since 2021, which would, among other restrictions, criminalise LGBTQI+ advocacy. Côte d’Ivoire however sees a rating upgrade from the repressed to the obstructed category, mainly due to fewer reported civic space violations compared with 2020, a year characterised by a highly contested and controversial electoral period, which led to the country’s downgrade to the repressed rating in December 2020.

In Central Africa, civic space remains affected by armed conflict, weak rule of law, impunity and entrenched authoritarian governments. In Chad, the military junta has severely repressed democracy protests, killing dozens of people, and dissolved the protest coalition Wakit Tama, which brings together civil society groups and opposition political parties. Despite promises to improve media freedoms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), journalists continued to be imprisoned, attacked and killed. Additionally, civic space violations have multiplied under the ‘stage of siege’ that in effect imposes martial law in the two eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu. In Cameroon, civic space remains repressed, with scores of protesters and journalists still being kept in prison. While the CAR moves to the repressed rating from closed, the authorities remain intolerant of dissent. An attempt to re-criminalise press offences, numerous attacks on humanitarian workers and highly contested government plans to amend the constitution all call for continuing vigilance.