In April and May, Human Rights Watch interviewed 15 people by telephone who have been forced to perform night guard duty under threat. Human Rights Watch also spoke with 12 Mozogo residents who witnessed but had not been subject to the forced labor, 4 victims and witnesses of other alleged military rights violations, and 4 representatives of local human rights groups. Human Rights Watch also followed up with a senior official from the Presidency on June 18. Human Rights Watch has been monitoring local media, including Sembe TV, L’Oeil du Sahel, and reports by nongovernmental groups, for accounts of attacks by the militant Islamic group. Human rights groups have reported widespread human rights violations and crimes under international humanitarian law by security forces, including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, incommunicado detention, systematic torture, and deaths in custody.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 10, 2020 08:48 UTC