Southern Africa: Grave Rights Abuses, Impunity Persist

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(Johannesburg) – Southern African countries committed serious human rights violations throughout 2025, creating vicious cycles of abuse and impunity, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. 

Security forces in Angola, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe used excessive and at times lethal force, and arbitrarily arrested and detained protesters. The authorities severely restricted freedom of expression, association, and assembly, and attacked journalists and human rights defenders. Neither the African Union nor the Southern African Development Community (SADC) took sufficient steps to address these and other violations, or to ensure that member countries complied with their regional human rights obligations. 

“Southern African governments are, in many cases, failing to meet their international legal obligations to bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice, creating an environment for abusers to thrive,” said Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Southern African governments need to promptly and impartially investigate and prosecute alleged rights violations.”

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. 

The World Report 2026 highlights the failure of Southern African countries to prioritize human rights protections and justice for victims of abuses. For instance:

• Security forces responded to protests with excessive force, resulting in deaths and injuries in Angola and Mozambique. While Angola announced investigations into protesters’ deaths and Mozambique opened hearings into the police role in the post-election violence, the results of the investigations have not been made public. There is still no justice or accountability in Eswatini for the security force crackdown on the 2021 pro-democracy protesters. 
• There were renewed tensions in Angola’s Cabinda exclave and an intensified Islamist insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region, both of which caused more displacement, increased abduction of children, suspension of humanitarian activities, and further degradation of public health services and aid provisions. 
• The governments of Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have threatened freedom of expression and media freedom. They have detained and judicially harassed journalists, human rights defenders, government critics, and opposition members, with some facing fabricated charges. 
• South Africa did not protect human rights defenders and whistleblowers at risk, some of whom were killed.
• The right to the highest attainable standard of health was an important concern in Eswatini, Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa. The Southern African governments failed to stop vigilante groups from preventing foreign nationals from accessing education and health care. Hazardous mining practices harmed communities in Zambia.

The SADC should focus on human rights issues in its engagements with member countries and improve measures for monitoring and ensuring that members meet their human rights obligations.