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Human Rights Records of African Governments - 2005
Source: U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2005. Released 08 March 2006.
According to the report, of the 48 Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • 20 African Governments generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
  • In Kenya, the government respected the rights of its citizens in many areas, although serious problems remained. This places it higher than countries with a poor but improving human rights record, but lower than those that generally respect their citizens’ human rights.
  • In 15 countries, the government's overall human rights record was considered poor, although there were notable improvements in some of the problematic areas.
  • Two countries with poor human rights records, Ethiopia and Togo, registered notable improvements in some problematic areas while worsening in others. This places them higher than countries that made little or no progress in problematic areas, but lower than those who registered improvements overall.
  • 8 countries had human rights records that were considered poor with limited or no progress being made in problematic areas.
  • Two governments [Zimbabwe and Sudan] had very poor human rights records with evidence of government-sponsored genocide in the latter.
Angola - While the government's human rights record showed improvements in a few areas, it remained poor and serious problems remained.
Benin - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Botswana - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Burkina Faso - The government's human rights record remained poor, but there were improvements in some areas.
Burundi - The human rights record of both the transitional and post-transitional governments remained poor; despite improvements in some areas, both governments continued to commit numerous serious human rights abuses.
Cameroon - The government's human rights record remained poor, and the government continued to commit numerous serious human rights abuses.
Cape Verde - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Central African Republic - The government's human rights record remained poor; although the government's respect for human rights improved overall, serious problems remained in several areas.
Chad - The government's human rights record remained poor.
Comoros - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Congo-Brazzaville - The government's human rights record remained poor; although there were some improvements, serious problems remained.
Congo-Kinshasa - In all areas of the country, the human rights record remained poor, and numerous serious abuses were committed; however, there were some improvements during the year.
Côte d'Ivoire - The government's human rights record remained poor.
Djibouti - The government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses; however, the government made improvements in some areas.
Equatorial Guinea - The government's human rights record remained poor, and the government continued to commit or condone serious abuses.
Eritrea - The government's [poor] human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous serious abuses.
Ethiopia - Although there were some improvements, the government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas.
Gabon - The country's human rights record remained poor, although there were improvements in several areas.
The Gambia - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Ghana - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens and made significant improvements during the year.
Guinea - The government's [poor] human rights record improved as it implemented political and macroeconomic reforms begun in 2004 with the appointment of Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo although serious problems remained.
Guinea-Bissau - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Kenya - The government in many areas respected the human rights of its citizens or attempted to institute reforms to address deficiencies. However, serious problems remained, particularly with regard to abuses by the police service.
Lesotho - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Liberia - The NTGL [National Transitional Government of Liberia] generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Madagascar - The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens and continued its efforts to combat trafficking and to curb widespread official corruption.
Malawi - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Mali - The government generally respected its citizens' human rights.
Mauritania - Both the former and transitional government's human rights records remained poor; although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained.
Mauritius - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Mozambique - Although the government took steps to discipline corrupt police, judges, and ministry officials, serious human rights problems remained. [The government's human rights record remained poor, but there were improvements in some areas]
Namibia - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Niger - The government improved its human rights record during the year. [The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens]
Nigeria - The government's human rights record remained poor, and government officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses.
Rwanda - The government's human rights record remained poor, and there were instances when the government committed serious abuses; however, there were some improvements during the year.
São Tomé and Príncipe - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Senegal - The government generally respected citizens' rights.
Seychelles -. The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Sierra Leone - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Somalia - The country's human rights record remained poor and serious human rights abuses continued.
South Africa - The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens.
Sudan - The government's human rights record remained poor, and there were numerous serious problems, including evidence of continuing genocide in Darfur, for which the government and janjaweed continued to bear responsibility.
Swaziland - The government's human rights record was poor, and government agents continued to commit serious abuses.
Tanzania - The government's human rights record remained poor; however, there were several significant improvements in some key areas, although problems remained.
Togo - Before Eyadema's death [on 5 February 2005], the government made some progress in improving its [poor] human rights record; however, following Eyadema's death, the government's human rights record deteriorated significantly.
Uganda - The government's human rights record remained poor; although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained.
Zambia - The government's human rights record remained poor, although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained.
Zimbabwe - The government's human rights record remained very poor.