Guinea

Status: Abandoned process or policy

In Guinea, there is no protection policy for human rights defenders. A draft law was developed in 2017, but no further steps have yet been taken towards its adoption. Furthermore, a military coup in September 2022 makes any steps towards the protection of defenders highly unprobable.

A draft law was initially by the Guinean Ministry of National Unity and Citizenship, but was redrafted by civil society actors. After this redraft, the bill was finalized during a roundtable with both defenders and government authorities organized in 2018. Since then, no further steps have been taken, despite a report published by the UN Human Rights Committee to the government of Guinea to proceed towards its adoption in 2018 and by ISHR in 2019.

Guinea is monitored by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. Although no country visit has yet been made or planned to Guinea, the UNSR has published several communications on human rights violations of defenders. The situation in Guinea is also examined by the African Union Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, but no information has been published by this Special regarding the situation of human rights defenders in Guinea.

Every four years, the situation in Guinea is reviewed through the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In the last report from 2020, no mention was made of any action taken by authorities. Guinea did, however, accept and support several recommendations on improving the security of human rights defenders, including to adopt a law for the protection of human rights defenders (par. 113.109). This means that the government of Guinea officially committed to developing a law before the next UPR review in 2024. However, the military coup in September 2022 makes it highly unlikely that this objective will be achieved.

CIVICUS monitor rates Guinea as “repressed”, which means that “civic space is significantly constrained”. Worrying developments mainly concern the change of power due to the military coup, which has brought about increased violence against human rights defenders and a ban on protests.

Updated on 01/03/2023