Regarding the Situation of Women and Girls in Ethiopia For the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women Dear Members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, We, the undersigned regional and international civil society...
Webinar | Women, Conflict and Accountability: Mass Atrocities and Gender-Based Violence in the Horn of Africa
In recognition of International Women’s Day, AWA and Af4HA will host a webinar exploring the impact of sexual violence in conflict and fragile settings across the Horn of Africa. The discussion will bring together regional experts to reflect on how gender-based...
Ethiopia on the Brink: International community must act urgently to prevent mass atrocities
20 February 2026 We, the undersigned human rights and humanitarian organizations, issue this statement with urgency and a warning on the rapidly deteriorating situation for civilians across Ethiopia. Ongoing and unresolved conflicts, entrenched impunity and escalating...
Counting What Comes Next: Electoral Repression and the Case for an Atrocity-Risk Lens in Tanzania
By Elena Kweli. Elena is a mass atrocity researcher covering Africa Why Tanzania Matters Now Tanzania’s 2025 general election marked a profound rupture with the country’s post-independence political trajectory. What unfolded went far beyond procedural irregularities...
EVENT: Launching the Campaign for the Ratification of the Malabo Protocol
The Malabo Protocol establishes a single, integrated African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights, with jurisdiction over international law, human rights, and international criminal law. It offers a powerful African-led mechanism to advance justice and...
ACHPR side event: Securing a regional criminal jurisdiction for Africa
Launch of a ratification toolkit for the Malabo Protocol The ratification of the Malabo Protocol is a vital step toward strengthening Africa’s regional justice and accountability mechanisms. To support these efforts, we are launching a Toolkit for Civil Society...
JOINT STATEMENT – Safe Passage: Protection for Civilians Under Siege in El Fasher
1 October 2025 - Time is running out for the estimated 260,000 civilians, including 130,000 children, trapped in El Fasher, Darfur’s final battleground between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF has besieged the North Darfur...
The international community must do more to end the crisis in eastern DRC
Looking directly at the empty Security Council chamber of the United Nations at their Headquarters in New York. 6 September 2024. Jdforrester Despite multiple international efforts to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the reality on the ground...
Extend the mandate of the Fact Finding Mission
Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session (HRC60, 8 September–8 October 2025), civil society organisations expressed deep concern over the ongoing human rights crisis in Sudan and urged states to support a mandate extension for the Independent International...
Webinar: How do recent agreements affect the prospects for peace in the DRC?
By Oxfam East Africa - Single mother, North Kivu, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35678304 After six months of intense fighting, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the rebel M23 movement signed a declaration of...
KENYA’S FIRST DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIAL (ALMOST) FINALLY KICKS OFF!
Kenya Judicary building - Wing https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kenya_High_Court.JPG By Dr. Owiso Owiso Kenya’s first international crimes trial (the Baby Pendo case) can now finally proceed after four police officers, John Chengo Masha, Linah Kosgey, Cyprine...
The Quad is meeting on Sudan: Where is Africa?
On July 29, the US will convene the first major diplomatic effort to end the war in Sudan in more than a year, but the only centered African participant will be Egypt. The African Union is reportedly trying to get a representative in the door, but it is...
Balancing Sovereignty and Justice: Advancing Universal Jurisdiction in Africa
Event: 27 June 2025 Mass atrocities continue to threaten peace and human rights throughout Africa. Addressing these crimes requires a careful balance between respecting national sovereignty and ensuring justice. This event brings together experts, legal professionals,...
Malabo Protocol – FAQ’s
The Protocol on Amendments to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol) has the potential to play a pivotal role in addressing impunity for international and transnational crimes on the African continent. To deliver on this...
Kenyan government must stop fuelling the Sudan conflict
June 18, 2025, Nairobi, Kenya - A recent exposé by the Nation Media Group and Bellingcat has confirmed Kenya’s deep involvement in the conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The exposé, following several months of undercover...
Launch of new Atrocities Watch Africa report on countering double standards at the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court at The Hague flag, 23 July 2024 - Tony Webster June 2025 Despite the promise of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and substantial efforts to investigate and prosecute the most serious crimes facing the international community, the...
EVENT: 20 years after ICC Darfur crimes referral, accountability gaps and justice pathways for Sudan.
March 31, 2025, marked 20 years since the UN Security Council referred crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Despite this milestone, impunity for grave crimes in Sudan persists—especially in the context of the ongoing conflict since April 2023,...
From Hope to Accountability: Reflecting on the 20th Anniversary of the Referral of the Situation in Darfur to the ICC
By Coalition for the ICC Two decades ago, the United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Darfur, Sudan, to the International Criminal Court (ICC). For the victims in Darfur, the first-ever UN Security Council referral to the ICC was a beacon of hope...
Kenya’s RSF ties undermine Sudan peace efforts
The Kenyan government's disgraceful decision to host the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allied militias—infamous for their brutal reign of terror in Sudan—makes it complicit in mass atrocities against the Sudanese people. RSF gathered in Nairobi on February 18,...
Open call to policy and decision-makers meeting at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC), and the East African Community (EAC) Heads ofState Summit
“The nights are not safe” (29 January 2025) AWA is forwarding the following list of requests after consulting 91 representatives of civil society, spanning humanitarian organisations and human rights activists who convened on 28 January together with partners, sisters...
Statement on the Demise of Dr Albaqir Alafif Mukhtar the Founder and Director of the Al Khatim Adlan Center for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE) Sudan
Atrocities Watch Africa and Africans for the Horn of Africa (AWA and Af4HA) express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Dr Albaqir Alafif Mukhtar, who passed away on 23 January. Dr Mukhtar was a member of AWA’s advisory board, contributing insight and...
SA drags its feet transferring genocide suspect — the case of Fulgence Kayishema
Rwandan genocide suspect Fulgence Kayishema before the Cape Town Magistrates' Court on 9 June 2023. (Photo credit: Jaco Marais /Gallo Images / Die Burger) Daily Maverick By Atilla Kisla and Owiso Owiso The case of Fulgence Kayishema, who is wanted by the International...
Statement of Young Sudanese Women on the need for Accountability in Sudan at the Twenty-third session of the Assembly of States Parties
On the occasion of the annual meeting of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC in The Hague, young Sudanese women working to document violations in pursuit of justice and to ensure accountability call on those states and the court to do more to ensure...
STATEMENT BY AWA AT THE ASSEMBLY OF STATES PARTIES
03 December 2024 (Read before the 23rd of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 03 December 2023) On behalf of Atrocities Watch Africa (AWA), we wish to offer the following observations to the Assembly of...
Harmonization of the ICC’s Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression:A Call to States Parties to Take the Opportunity for Reform
We respectfully call on all states parties to take the steps required to amend the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. What the international community needs is a legal framework that can end impunity and effectively deter state...
KENYA’S FIRST DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIAL FAILS TO KICK OFF…AGAIN!
By Dr Owiso Owiso As reported in an earlier post, on 3 October 2024 the High Court postponed plea-taking in Kenya’s first domestic international crimes trial (the Baby Pendo case) to 5 November 2024. However, for the second time, plea-taking failed to proceed on 5...
THE FATE OF KENYA’S FIRST DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIAL HANGS IN THE BALANCE
By Dr Owiso Owiso Kenya is currently in the process of hearing the first case under its 2008 International Crimes Act, colloquially known as the Baby Pendo case. The case is potentially a landmark effort to ensure accountability for international crimes at the...
Special Convening on Sudan at the 81st Ordinary Session of the African Commission of the Human & People’s Rights
Join Africans for the Horn of Africa of Africa (Af4HA) Initiative, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Open Society Foundations (OSF) and The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) for a special convening at the...
Seeing the glass half full: reflecting on 26 years since the adoption of the Rome Statute
By Emily Cody On 17 July 2024, the world commemorated the 26th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Despite the establishment of the ICC, justice remains elusive for victims of mass atrocity crimes across the...
10th Anniversary Celebration Malabo Protocol
Join us for the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Malabo Protocol! We are excited to invite you to a high-level dialogue commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Malabo Protocol. This event is organized by the African Union, in collaboration with the Pan...
Statement by the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)On the deposit, by the Republic of Angola, of the Instrument of Ratification of the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, 2014 (also called the ‘Malabo Protocol’)
Commemorating the Rwandan genocide, 30 years on
April marked the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the deadliest genocide witnessed on the African continent, where over the span of just 100 days, about 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, were brutally murdered. In a significant...
Human Rights Groups Urge President Biden to Oppose US Sanctions on ICC
Photo credit: @ICC-CPI President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.The White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, D.C. 20500 Re: Threats to the International Criminal Court Dear President Biden: We write as organizations with a steadfast commitment to justice for grave...
Why is the Malabo Protocol still on the shelf?
Ten years after African leaders adopted a document in Equatorial Guinea that aimed to provide the continent with the most expansive and ambitious understanding and definition of international crimes, reflecting both the progressive development of international...
Sudan: Extend the Fact-Finding Mission’s mandate
The Statement on the Human Rights Situation in the Horn of Africa
No to second anniversary of Sudan war
Sudan: A forgotten crisis. Photo credit: EU/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie By Brian Kagoro April 15 marked one year since the breakout of the devastating war in Sudan that has killed 14,000 people, displaced over 16.5 million and led to the worst humanitarian crisis today...
One year into the crisis in Sudan, South Africa should use its influence to help bring peace
Refugees from Sudan waiting at the border point for transportation. Photo credit: UNHCR/Ala Kheir Daily Maverick By Dismas Nkunda April 15 marked the first anniversary of the conflict in Sudan. The situation is dire: since the outbreak of the crisis nearly nine...
Af4HA letter to H.E. Ms Jainaba Jagne – Ambassador of The Gambia to the African Union
The ICC and UNSC Must Do More for Sudan’s Mass Atrocity Victims
UNSC refers sitation in Darfur, Sudan to ICC Security Council 6217th meeting. Photo Credit: Coalition for the ICC SUDAN TRIBUNE By Janet Sankale On 24 January 2024, the Africans for the Horn of Africa Initiative (Af4HA), a coalition of African civil society...
Af4HA Welcomes IGAD’s Resolutions on Sudan – but Calls to Align IGAD Action to the Will of the People
Flags of IGAD member states fly at the Peace Hotel compound in Mogadishu, Somalia, the venue of the Extra-Ordinary IGAD Heads of State Summit on September 13, 2016. AMISOM Photo / Omar Abdisalan 23 January 2023 “I feel that things will only change when We – The People...
International Community Must Take Decisive Preventative Action to Halt Further Atrocities
We, the undersigned Sudanese and international civil society groups have come together to sound the alarm on future atrocities being committed in Sudan, based on the patterns of atrocities that have occurred in the previous seven months of war. We call on the...
Request for support of ICC investigation in Palestine by African ICC member states
16 October 2023 Dear Excellencies, The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) is a regional non-governmental organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa. SALC’s mandate is to promote human rights and protect the rule of law in the Southern African...
Where is the UN on Sudan?
A woman and her family displaced by war seek shelter. Photo credit: UN Photo/Tim McKulka SUDAN TRIBUNE General Burhan Speaks Before the General Assembly By Dismas Nkunda and Janet Sankale On Friday, September 22, 2023 afternoon, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan...
Human rights and humanitarian organizations are calling upon the United Nations to take immediate action to address the crisis unfolding in Sudan.
Joint Statement Urging More Aid, Solidarity and Attention to Sudan Crisis Displaced Sudanese Women and Children from the ongoing war face harsh conditions. Photo credit: @UN/Albert Gonzalez We, the heads of over 50 human rights and humanitarian organizations are...
54th session of the UN Human Rights Council: Ethiopia – Renew the mandate of the ICHREE
Jaurocks, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council Excellencies, Ahead of the Human Rights Council’s 54th regular session (September 11- October 12, 2023), we, the...
The Human Rights Council should establish an independent mechanism on Sudan
To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland) 1 September 2023 The Human Rights Council should establish an independent mechanism on Sudan Excellencies, Following the outbreak of armed...
EVENT: Dissecting the latest trends in military takeovers in Africa
Join us for an insightful online event via Twitter Spaces, where we will delve into the pressing issue of ongoing military takeovers in the continent. Our expert panel will lead a thought-provoking discussion, analyzing the geopolitical implications, humanitarian...
JOINT LETTER TO THE ACHPR ON THE PREMATURE TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON THE SITUATION IN TIGRAY
Dear Honourable Members, JOINT LETTER RE: CONCERNS REGARDING THE PREMATURE TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON THE SITUATION IN THE TIGRAY REGION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA We, the undersigned civil society, and human rights organizations are alarmed...
In an exclusive interview with Tigrai TV, Dismas Nkunda, CEO of Atrocities Watch Africa, highlights significant discoveries from the “Ethiopia Watch: CSO Monitor Report.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEtHmJSKevw A newly released monitoring mechanism has revealed disturbing evidence that the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) reached eight months ago between the Ethiopian Federal Government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front...