In a recently published report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized Senegal for its pre-election conduct, including the repression of opposition, media, critics, and other civil society members. Notably, the presidential elections in this West African nation are due in February.
The report pointed at the leadership of President Macky Sall for orchestrating the onslaught on free speech and assembly, including cases of opposition leaders’ arrests, claims of tortures in detention, and allegations of arbitrary arrests. Compounding the situation is the pressure exerted on journalists, leading to arrests and a culture of self-censorship.
HRW’s report also brought to the fore the widening crackdown on opposition and media that has been escalating since 2021, bolstered by civil society’s assertions of security forces’ excessive force and political manipulation, leading to around 1,000 arrests. It also highlighted the role of the Constitutional Council in vetting candidates, a process which, according to HRW, authorities misuse against their opponents, resulting in extended pretrial detentions. The Constitutional Council bears the responsibility of overseeing presidential candidacies, resolving electoral disputes, and announcing the official election results in Senegal.
Ilaria Allegrozzi, a senior Sahel researcher at HRW, painted the picture starkly by stating, “As Senegal heads to the polls, the stakes for its democracy are high; Senegalese authorities should initiate impartial, independent, and effective investigations into all cases of the use of force by security forces throughout the pre-election crisis and ensure that security forces respect the right to demonstrate peacefully.”
Senegal, a diverse and vibrant country in West Africa with a rich history as a French colony, is known for its relatively stable democracy within the region. However, a gaze at Freedom House’s 2022 index reveals a dip, with Senegal scoring 68 out of 100, marking it as a “partly free” country – a drop from its previous year’s score of 71.
Challenges such as government corruption, weak rule of law, and insufficient protections for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, coupled with recent politically charged prosecutions and changes in electoral law, impeding opposition competitiveness, have considerably affected the country’s freedom score. The pressure on the media is further exposed in the country’s 2023 Press Freedom Index rank by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) at 104 out of 180 countries – a significant drop from 73 in 2022.
RSF documented an increase in arrests and violence against media professionals across political spheres leading up to parliamentary elections in 2022. The persecution of an investigative journalist on charges of endangering national defense and spreading false news, who was subsequently imprisoned for almost two months, added to concerns of the deteriorating safety of journalists.