Mali: Curbs To Political Rights Risk Further Deepening Human Rights Concerns

Geneva,16 May 2025

Laws curbing political participation recently adopted in Mali risk silencing dissenting voices in the country and could further deepen wider human rights concerns, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said today.

The Transitional President on 13 May issued a decree dissolving all political parties and “organisations of a political nature” and signed into law a repeal of previous laws that governed political parties and provided protections to them.

“The Transitional President should repeal this draconian decree,” said Türk. “Any restrictions of political participation must be consistent with Mali’s international human rights law obligations.”

At least three members of the opposition were arrested following protests sparked by the planned dissolution of political parties, and their whereabouts are currently unknown, the latest victims in a pattern of enforced disappearances that dates back to at least 2021.

“I urge the transitional authorities to release those who have been arrested on politically motivated grounds and to fully restore political rights in the country,” Türk said. “They must protect civic space and ensure an environment in which all people can enjoy all their rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also urged the Malian transitional authorities, in power since 2020, to refrain from extending the transitional period again, and to publish an election timetable without delay, in order to enable Malians’ full enjoyment of their political rights, guaranteed in international human rights law. He also recalled the Transitional President’s instruction to the Cabinet in November 2024 to “create the conditions necessary for the organising of transparent and peaceful elections which should put an end to the transition period”.

The recent human rights setbacks take place against a background of persistent insecurity affecting people across Mali, especially since the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) withdrew from the country on 31 December 2023. According to credible sources, the number of documented human rights violations and abuses increased by almost 120% between 2023 and 2024.

Armed groups such as the Jamāat nurat al-islām wal-muslimīn (JNIM), “Islamic State – Sahel Province” (formerly “Islamic State in the Greater Sahara”) and other similar groups, as well as unidentified armed individuals, continue to carry out attacks on civilians, including killings and abductions, and to subject women and girls to sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and forced marriage.

Reports indicate members of the Mali Armed Forces, allegedly accompanied by foreign military personnel commonly referred to either as “Wagner” or as “Africa Corps”, also killed dozens of people last month. The victims were reportedly summarily executed following their arrest in Sebagougou, in the southwestern Kayes region.

“The multiple investigations announced by the Malian authorities into these attacks and killings must be conducted in a timely manner, and those found responsible must be brought to justice, in trials that meet Mali’s international human rights obligations, with a view to ensuring victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations,” said Türk.

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