As 2025 comes to a close, I reflect on yet another difficult year for human rights, marked by horrific atrocities in conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, and the brutal repression of peaceful dissent in countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
On January 26, Rwanda-backed M23 fighters captured the city of Goma, leaving a trail of death and suffering as they killed, tortured, and held civilians hostage.
A deal struck six months later, endorsed in December by US President Donald Trump, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, and DRC’s Félix Tshisekedi, has failed to halt human rights abuses against civilians in the mineral-rich eastern region.
Meanwhile, as the conflict in Sudan entered its third year, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the decades-old Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons in April, killing hundreds of starving civilians. The assaults forced aid workers to flee, leaving vulnerable populations without humanitarian assistance.
A few months later, the RSF struck again, killing scores of civilians in El Fasher, where people had been trapped for 18 months under siege without food.
In Ethiopia, the conflict in the Amhara region has been accompanied by mass arbitrary arrests of civilians without charge.
Now in its second year, the fighting has caused deaths and injuries, displacements, and sexual violence against women and girls.
Meanwhile, the seven-year-long armed conflict in Oromia continues to devastate civilians, and renewed tensions between Ethiopia and its former ally Eritrea have further heightened instability this year.
At the heart of the conflicts in the DRC, Ethiopia, and Sudan is impunity. Perpetrators of these violations have been emboldened by the lack of accountability, resulting in repeated abuses, often by the same actors switching sides.
The consequence is unending suffering for civilians. States must uphold their obligations to conduct prompt, independent, impartial, transparent, and effective investigations, hold suspected perpetrators individually accountable, and ensure victims and their families have access to justice and effective remedies.
Mechanisms such as universal jurisdiction—used in November to bring charges against former Congolese minister Roger Lumbala Tshitenga for complicity in crimes against humanity—should be fully employed with international cooperation.
Holding individuals accountable sends a clear message against impunity and reinforces the global commitment to human rights.
Away from conflicts, governments in the region continued to restrict civic space and suppress peaceful dissent.
In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration shut down civil society organisations and arrested journalists. Similarly, authorities in Angola, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe demonstrated the lengths they were willing to go to stifle dissent, including enacting draconian laws and arresting opposition members and journalists.
During the electoral period in Tanzania, the government intensified its crackdown on civic space and peaceful protest.
Between October 29 and November 3, security forces unlawfully killed hundreds of post-election protesters and bystanders and used excessive or unnecessary lethal force, leaving thousands more injured across the country.
Faced with such glaring human rights violations, it is easy to feel discouraged. Yet amid these challenges, there were notable human rights gains.
In Ethiopia, the mayor of Addis Ababa announced the official suspension of the City Development Plan (CDP) for at least a year.
The decision brings relief to millions of residents who feared their homes could be arbitrarily demolished, as has happened to thousands before them.
Politically motivated charges
In Eswatini, former parliamentarian Mthandeni Dube, an Amnesty prisoner of conscience, was released after more than three years in prison on politically motivated charges.
While this is not the end of the struggle for justice, it marks an important and hard-won step forward.
In Malawi, the Constitutional Court declared Section 200 of the Penal Code, which criminalised defamation, unconstitutional.
The court ruled that criminal defamation laws have a “chilling effect” on public discourse and should be addressed through civil remedies, in line with international human rights standards.
In October, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Joint Fact-Finding Mission released its findings on the situation in Sudan.
Publishing the report is a crucial first step toward holding individual perpetrators of human rights violations in the Sudan conflict accountable.
As 2026 approaches, governments in the region must publicly commit to ending repression, protecting civic space, creating a conducive environment for human rights defenders, and combating impunity.
Without these measures, civilian suffering will persist. 2026 must be the year of change and the year of human rights.
Tigere Chagutah, is the Regional Director for East and Southern Africa region, Amnesty International
