(Nairobi) - Civilians in Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia are bearing the brunt of abusive armed conflicts in which the warring parties frequently and often deliberately target them, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. Governments across the region have clamped down on already restricted civic and political space around protests and ahead of elections.
"Brutal attacks against civilians by unaccountable military forces and armed groups are becoming normalized in the Horn and East Africa, as global and regional actors are unwilling to act against those responsible and their backers," said Mausi Segun, executive Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Regional and international actors should sanction abusive actors and hold them to account and protect independent oversight of human rights in these countries."
In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Philippe Bolopion writes that breaking the authoritarian wave sweeping the world is the challenge of a generation. With the human rights system under unprecedented threat from the Trump administration and other global powers, Bolopion calls on rights-respecting democracies and civil society to build a strategic alliance to defend fundamental freedoms.
Governments in the region committed widespread repression of civic space notably around protests and elections.
Source: Human Rights Watch
