Since the 1960s, Cameroon’s Francophone-dominated government has instituted policies aimed at marginalizing the country’s minority Anglophone community. In late 2016, state security forces cracked down on Anglophone lawyers and teachers as they peacefully led civil rights demonstrations. This government repression animated Anglophone nationalism and led to both the formation and mobilization of an armed separatist movement. The separatist movement fractured into a number of smaller militias, including the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF) and the Southern Cameroons Defense Forces (SOCADEF). In October 2017, the separatist groups collectively declared independence for the breakaway Republic of Ambazonia. President Paul Biya responded with force, declaring war on the secessionist movement and its supporters, which he labeled as “terrorists” and “extremists”. Since 2016, fighting between government forces and militant separatists has claimed more than 3,000 lives and displaced more than 679,000 Anglophones, with at least 60,000 Anglophones fleeing as refugees to neighboring Nigeria. The conflict has also decimated critical infrastructure in the Anglophone regions, with many schools and hospitals shuttered and nearly two million Anglophones, one-third of the total Anglophone population, now in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The violence currently shows no signs of abating as attacks continue by both government forces and separatists. In February 2020, government officials and allied militia members slaughtered 21 civilians, including 13 children in Ngarbuh village in Northwest Cameroon. So far in 2020, fighting has killed an estimated 285 Anglophone civilians. Genocide Watch recognizes the alarming situation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions as Stage 9: Extermination and Stage 10: Denial. The government maintains that it has not engaged in a systematic campaign of targeted violence against perceived separatist supporters, despite widespread evidence to the contrary, claiming any violence is a result of legitimate counterterrorism operations. As violence by both security forces and armed separatists continues, Anglophone civilians are at an increased risk for future genocidal massacres. Genocide Watch recommends: International actors recognize the urgency of the Anglophone crisis and encourage the government of Cameroon and separatist groups to reach a diplomatic resolution through the implementation of targeted sanctions on those most responsible for ongoing violence. Both the government and separatist groups follow UNSG Guterres’ call for a global ceasefire to help combat COVID-19, and immediately end attacks on civilians and reach a ceasefire agreement. Both the government and separatist groups agree to participate in mediation efforts, sponsored by a third-party, aimed at achieving meaningful dialogue. An investigation be launched in conjunction with the AU or UN into crimes against humanity and other international crimes committed during the Anglophone crisis to end the ongoing cycle of impunity. Humanitarian channels be reopened to allow for the inflow of necessary medical supplies, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as essential aid for Anglophones suffering as a result of the continued violence and destruction of critical infrastructure. Download Alert

Since 2016, three armed Islamist groups, the Group for Support of Muslims (JNIM), the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and Ansarul Islam, have reigned terror upon civilians in Burkina Faso. The violent insurgency has destabilized the country and produced one of the most alarming humanitarian crises on the continent. Since the insurgency began, civilian deaths have risen astronomically, up more than 650%. In the past 18 months alone, militants have killed more than 2,000 civilians, forced the internal displacement of 920,000 people, and necessitated humanitarian assistance for more than two million Burkinabés. After Islamist rebels seized power in northern Mali in 2012, a controversial French-led military intervention dispersed the jihadists. The Islamist militants then moved from their stronghold in the north to the south bordering Burkina Faso. There, they regrouped and reorganized, forming the al-Qaeda affiliated JNIM and the Islamic State aligned ISGS. Concurrently, an indigenous Islamist movement was taking root within Burkina Faso. In 2016, Ibrahim Malam Dicko, a radical cleric and supporter of the Malian jihadists, founded Ansarul Islam and exploited the extreme poverty and systemic government neglect in the Sahel region of northern Burkina Faso to radicalize and recruit local men. Dicko drew his support from Fulani Muslims, who despite comprising a small minority in the country, make up a majority in the region. Many former adherents to Ansarul Islam subsequently joined JNIM and ISGS. Since 2018, the jihadists have stepped up their attacks. Massacres against Christians and the targeting of churches have become increasingly common and began to spread beyond northern Burkina Faso. In December 2019 an attack on a Burkina Faso church killed 14 Christian worshippers and in February 2020 another attack during Sunday Mass left 24 dead. A reactionary cycle of violence is taking place across Burkina Faso. Security forces and local self-defense militias are perpetuating this cycle in their attempts to eradicate the jihadist presence. In their increasingly fraught counterinsurgency efforts, government troops have killed hundreds of civilians, as evidenced by a recently unearthed mass grave containing 180 bodies. Where the government troops have been less active, vigilante self-protection forces, such as the Koglweogo Militia, have also committed summary executions of hundreds of people, primarily Fulani, that they perceive to be affiliated with the Islamist groups. Genocide Watch recognizes the violence in Burkina Faso as Stage 9: Extermination. To prevent further bloodshed in Burkina Faso, Genocide Watch recommends: The United Nations deploy a peacekeeping force to Burkina Faso, similar to that of MINUSMA that is currently working to counteract these same groups in Mali. The government of Burkina Faso protect targeted civilians in the north of the country to help break the cycle of vigilantism. The government of Burkina Faso and civil society work together to prioritize education and development in the north to combat the roots of radicalization among the population there. NGOs and international governmental organizations increase humanitarian assistance to Burkina Faso to prevent the further escalation of an already dire humanitarian crisis and to provide options to individuals who may be tempted to otherwise join armed Islamist groups. Download Alert

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government has cracked down on journalists, activists, nongovernmental organizations, and the political opposition. Arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings by law enforcement agencies continue with impunity. Blasphemy-related violence against religious minorities, such as Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and others, fostered by government persecution and discriminatory laws, is frequent. Women, religious minorities, and transgender people continue to face violence, with authorities often failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators accountable. For decades, the Pakistan Penal Code has been used against anyone who is perceived to insult Islam. These laws target the three percent of Pakistanis who belong to non-Muslim minority groups. Blasphemy laws have provided a pretext for state violence against religious minorities, as well as hundreds of arbitrary arrests and prosecution. The death penalty is mandatory for blasphemy. Those sentenced to the death penalty are often Christians and Buddhists, but also Muslims accused of love affairs with non-Muslims. Under-age Hindu girls are forced to convert to Islam or face blasphemy law death penalties. Freedom of the press is under attack, as media outlets face pressure for criticizing the government. Some television channels have been forced off the air or have had their audience’s access restricted as punishment for their critical editorials of the government. Arbitrary detention, torture, deaths in custody, forced disappearances, extrajudicial execution of journalists, and more indiscriminate killings by the police are rampant. Human rights advocates live under constant threat of arrest. The Pakistani intelligence service (ISI) is a state within a state, unrestrained by law. Pakistani law enforcement agencies are responsible for human rights violations, including detention without charge and extrajudicial killings. Amnesty International reports a persistent pattern of human rights violations in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan has failed to protect individuals – particularly women, religious minorities and children – from violence and other human rights abuses committed in the home, in the community, and while in legal custody. Child marriage driven by traditional or religious customs and low education levels, especially of young girls, is an ongoing issue of concern. In August 2019, the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law and Justice rejected a bill proposing to raise the minimum age of marriage of girls to 18. 21% of girls in Pakistan marry before the age of 18. In 2019, at least 629 women and girls were trafficked to China and sold as “brides.” Many women, children, and transgender people remain victims of “honor killings.” The state has failed to prosecute most perpetrators of such murders. Many transgender people and members of the LGBTQI community face persecution. In 2018, Parliament passed a transgender rights bill, but the penal code still criminalizes same-sex sexual conduct. LGBTQI individuals are constantly at risk of police harassment and violent attacks by thugs. Due to persecution of religious minorities and the continuing criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct in the LGBTQI community, Pakistan is currently at Stage 6: Polarization in the Ten Stages of Genocide. Genocide Watch urges Pakistan to adopt and implement laws to protect religious minorities, women, children, and transgender people, abolish the death penalty, guarantee religious freedom, prosecute “honor killings,” and repeal all blasphemy laws. Genocide Watch calls upon the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to keep Pakistan among their countries of special concern. Download Alert

Ethnic divisions in Ethiopia date to the 1880s when the Abyssinian Empire invaded its southern neighbors, creating the boundaries of modern Ethiopia. European powers supported Emperor Menelik (1889 – 1913) with weapons, military advisors, and diplomatic recognition. Emperor Haile Selassie I (1916 – 1974) made Amharic the official language, though only 27 percent of Ethiopians are Amhara. Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity became the official religion. Eritrean Muslims fought for independence for decades. Eritrea finally seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, but war continued. Ogadeni Somali Muslims also seek secession. Oromos constitute one third of the population, but they held no political power until 2018. Since the sixth century, Beta Israel, a persecuted Jewish community, has lived in northern Ethiopia. Over 100,000 Ethiopian Jews emigrated to Israel from 1979 to 1999. Those who remain face discrimination. In 1974, the Derg, a Marxist-Leninist military junta, seized control of the country and systematically implemented genocidal killings of political rivals. The Derg abolished parliament, arrested Emperor Haile Selassie I, who died in custody, and suspended the constitution. The Derg was backed by the Soviet Union. The Derg’s “Red Terror” murdered over 500,000 Ethiopian citizens. In 2006 the Ethiopian Supreme Court convicted Derg leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam of genocide (in absentia) and sentenced him to death. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe, then under Robert Mugabe, where he remains with impunity. The Derg was overthrown by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991. The EPRDF was dominated by ethnic Tigrayans. Under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the EPRDF committed genocide in 2003 against the Anuak people of Gambella province, and it committed crimes against humanity against the Somalis of the Ogaden. In 2018, an Oromo, Abiy Ahmed, became Prime Minister. He negotiated an end to hostilities with Eritrea and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. He named a multi-ethnic cabinet, but all Tigrayans resigned. Ethiopia’s regions are divided on ethnic lines. Persecution of minorities is increasing. Regional governments recruit ethnic militias. Since 2018, ethnic violence has displaced one million people. University dormitories have become segregated by ethnicity. Most Tigrayans have left universities. Tigrayans claim that Amharas, Oromos, and other groups have destroyed Tigrayan businesses and homes. Prime Minister Ahmed fired many Tigrayan ex-officials on corruption charges, which Tigrayans see as ethnic persecution. Persecution by the Oromo Liberation Front has forced ethnic Gedeos to flee from West Guji. The Ethiopian diaspora funds ethnic divisions, though some leaders advocate unity. In 2019, Amnesty International released a report implicating the country’s security forces in extrajudicial killings of 39 people in Oromia. The report also accused security forces of standing by while 130 people were killed in ethnic clashes between Amhara and Qimant communities in the Amhara state. In early July 2020, security forces arrested several members of the Oromo opposition party and critics of Prime Minister Abiy after an estimated 239 people died in protests surrounding the murder of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer. Most of the victims belonged to the Amhara ethnic group. The government shut down the internet and the Oromo Media Network TV station for two weeks. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Prime Minister’s term has been extended and elections postponed. Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Warning for Ethiopia due to the government’s inaction to stop ethnically motivated violence between Oromo, Amhara, Tigrayan and Gedeo peoples. Genocide Watch considers Ethiopia at Stage 6: Polarization according to our Ten Stages of Genocide. Download Alert

Des hauts officiers de l’armée et de la police nationale congolaises sont visés par des enquêtes sur le massacre de la population en 2017 à Nganza dans le Kasaï central. Selon plusieurs ONG, environ 300 civils assimilés aux miliciens de Kamwina Nsapu avaient été tués. Vendredi, 7 officiers des Forces armées de la RDC (FARDC) et un haut officier de la police nationale congolaise ont été interpellés à ce sujet vendredi à Beni (Nord-Kivu). Ils sont soupçonnés d’être impliqués dans ces violences. De notre correspondant à Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi Christian Kongolo Kambale, commissaire provincial adjoint de la Police nationale congolaise en Ituri, était convoqué par la justice militaire à Beni pour confrontation avec d’autres co-inculpés. Ce vendredi, il a été mis face à six officiers de l’armée. Les autres sont placés en garde à vue, mais le commissaire bénéficie d’un régime de mise en liberté provisoire, le temps de l’enquête, selon une source au sein de la justice militaire. La pression de la CPI, de l’Onu et des Etats-Unis Pendant la période des tueries de Nganza, Christian Kongolo Kambale assumait les fonctions de commissaire provincial de la police nationale congolaise au Kasaï-Central. Il n’est pas le seul cité. Les interpellations ont commencé il y a environ un mois sur base d’une commission rogatoire qui a été mise en place. Selon la justice militaire, le processus a pu être accéléré grâce à des témoignages obtenus de Congolais revenus d’Angola. Il y a aussi, selon certaines sources, la pression exercée par la Cour pénale internationale mais aussi l’ONU fatiguée de voir tous les officiers soupçonnés par la justice militaire être envoyés au front à Beni; ce qui empêchait toute coopération. Washington aurait également menacé de suspendre le processus de la reprise de la coopération militaire. Pour ce qui est de Beni, les interpellations ne sont pas encore terminées, apprend-t-on. A la fin des auditions, les pièces du dossier seront transmises à l’auditeur militaire supérieur de Kananga. Publié par RFI le 9 août 2020 © 2020 Copyright RFI - Tous droits réservés.

Il y a tout juste seize ans le 13 août 2004, une attaque attribuée au mouvement de rébellion hutu des Forces nationales de libération (FNL) d’Agathon Rwasa causait la mort de plus de 160 personnes parmi les Tutsis congolais réfugiés dans le camp de Gatumba dans l’Ouest du Burundi. 152 Banyamulenge, des Tutsis congolais originaires de la province du Sud-Kivu en RDC, ont perdu la vie ce jour. 16 ans après, ils se sont rassemblés à Bukavu jeudi pour réclamer justice. De notre correspondant à Bukavu, William Basimike Dans la salle de l’ONG RIO de Nguba, des centaines de membres de la communauté banyamulenge se sont réunis en mémoire des victimes, constituées en majorité de femmes et d'enfants. Muhamiriza Ineza Aline, représentante des victimes, déplore l'absence de réaction du Congo et du Burundi. « J’ai perdu des proches, des gens de ma communauté, des amis de la famille qui sont partis. Seize ans après, ce qui est regrettable c’est que l’État congolais ne dise rien, l’État burundais ne condamne pas, la communauté internationale même ment, ce qui fait mal au cœur ! Il y a eu ceux qui ont déclaré que ce sont eux qui ont commis ce massacre. Nous pensons qu’il est grand temps qu’ils soient traduits en justice. « Trahi pas notre pays... » Pour l’ancien député national Enock Sebineza, le massacre de Gatumba rappelle plusieurs autres évènements douloureux. Faute de justice, pour lui c'est le sentiment d'abandon qui domine. « On a l'impression qu’on est trahi par la région, et par notre pays. Puisque les Banyamulenge sont des Congolais massacrés à l’extérieur, juridiquement il n’y a que le Congo, le Burundi et les Nations unies qui peuvent porter plainte n’importe où » Cette commémoration intervient dans un contexte de violences inter-ethniques dans les territoires de Fizi, Uvira et Mwenga, et qui allonge encore la liste des victimes. Ainsi, les Banyamulenge encouragent le gouvernement congolais à poursuivre les efforts de dialogue et de réconciliation entre les communautés, et à restaurer l’autorité de l’État dans l’est de la RDC. Publié par RFI le 14 août 2020 © 2020 Copyright RFI - Tous droits réservés.

Before 2005, South Sudan was the victim of a twenty-year genocide by the Sudanese army and Arab militias that took over two million lives. The 2005 “Comprehensive Peace Agreement” provided a path to independence, but it was not comprehensive at all, since it ignored the raging Sudanese genocides in Darfur, the Nuba mountains, Blue Nile, and South Kordofan. The 2005 agreement also left the status of the oil rich Abyei region at the Sudan-South Sudan border to be settled by a referendum. Before a vote could be held, the Sudanese army invaded Abyei. 100,000 of Abyei’s Dinka residents were violently driven out. Abyei’s oil resources were seized and depleted. South Sudan is still rich in oil, but it must export it through the Greater Nile Oil Pipeline to Port Sudan in Sudan. South Sudan became independent in 2011. The U.S., U.K., and U.N. backed independence without adequate safeguards for civilians. The U.N. sent in a peacekeeping force with a weak mandate and terms of engagement that elevated self-protection of U.N. peacekeeping troops over protection of South Sudanese civilians. Two leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and Deputy-President Riek Machar, a Nuer, each backed by their own ethnic militias, took power. They fell out in a power struggle in 2013. The country has had genocide ever since. Massacres have killed over 400,000 civilians. All sides have committed war crimes, massive crimes against humanity, and genocide. 1.8 million South Sudanese are internally displaced, and 1.6 million are refugees. Salva Kiir and Riek Machar again agreed to share power in February 2020. But inter-ethnic violence continues. In early 2020, ethnic massacres resumed in the Bor region in Jonglei state. These attacks, in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, overwhelmed humanitarian workers. In May 2020 the International Organization for Migration estimated that 18,343 individuals from 3,168 households have been displaced within Jonglei. In June, President Kiir formed a committee to resolve this conflict between Dinka Bor, the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes in Jonglei but civilians are still caught in the crossfire. The Dinka-Nuer ethnic conflict is still on-going. There has been no progress toward integrating and disarming the country’s ethnic army and militias. South Sudan is not a state-party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The ICC has no jurisdiction to charge Salva Kiir and Riek Machar with their war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. South Sudan is led by corrupt war criminals. Due to the shakey nature of every peace agreement between the Dinka President and the Nuer Vice President and the on-going killing of civilians targeted because of their ethnicity, Genocide Watch considers South Sudan to be at Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch’s Recommendations: • The South Sudanese Army and Nuer militias should be disarmed and demobilized. • Churches should be engaged in peace negotiations between ethnic leaders. • South Sudan should create a mixed national/international tribunal to try war criminals. • A new transitional government should be elected and protected by U.N./A.U. forces.

[Photo Credit: Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images] In 2001, the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan dislodged the Taliban from power and after elections, installed a civilian government. In the two decades since, Taliban militants have waged a violent insurgency against the Afghan government. Taliban attacks have resulted in more than 100,000 civilian casualties since 2010. Afghan government and NATO attacks have also killed many civilians. In 2018, Taliban terrorist attacks intensified, resulting in a record number of civilians killed. The Taliban’s genocidal massacres include widespread and systematic violence against women, Afghan government police, and ethnic and religious minorities, including Hazaras and Sikhs. In February 2020, the U.S. and the Taliban signed a preliminary peace agreement. Meanwhile, the Taliban escalated its intentional targeting of civilians. In the first six-months of 2020, the Taliban killed more than 1,200 civilians. The Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) is also undermining any realistic prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Like the Taliban, IS-K has committed widespread atrocities against civilians, minorities, and Afghan police. In March 2020 Islamic State militants attacked a Sikh temple in Kabul, killing at least 25. IS-K was responsible for the heinous attack that killed 24 mothers, newborns, and nurses at a Kabul maternity ward. ISIS-affiliated terrorists regularly execute attacks aimed at sabotaging the Afghan peace process, including a recent attack on a prison, which killed 29 people during a three-day Eid ceasefire. Across Afghanistan, targeted killings continue unabated. If the Taliban should regain control of the country, or if IS-K is able to gain further influence, the result will be the continued extermination of ethnic and religious minorities, degradation of women’s fundamental human rights, systematic targeting of civilians and other war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Due to the specific attacks on ethnic and religious minorities, Genocide Watch considers the current situation in Afghanistan to be at Stage 9: Extermination. To prevent further genocidal bloodshed in Afghanistan, Genocide Watch recommends: The Taliban and Afghan government should follow through on the stipulations in their February 2020 agreement, most importantly through engaging in a national dialogue aimed at forming a government of national unity. The Afghan government should avoid employing counterinsurgency measures that kill civilians, as these attacks increase popular support for the Taliban. Taliban and Afghan government forces should work together to prevent further IS-K attacks, which undermine peace negotiations. The Afghan government and international donors should increase funding to civil society organizations that work to protect the rights of Afghan women and minorities. The U.S. and its NATO allies should not abandon the Afghan government, and should support Afghan efforts to prevent a violent takeover of the country by the Taliban. Download the full report here.

By Fiona Niebart September 2021 Photo credit: Dondi Tawatao/Reuters 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte’s government is committing crimes against humanity and politicide in the Philippines through a state-sponsored mass murder campaign that Duterte portrays as a “War on Drugs.” Under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, police officers engage in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests of dissenters, and suppression of media freedom. President Duterte’s “War on Drugs,” which began in 2016, targets impoverished civilians, drug addicts, and activists opposed to Duterte's “war,” including human rights groups, journalists, and media outlets. Encouraged by Duterte, police and unidentified gunmen have committed thousands of killings. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates the death toll at 8,663, but domestic human rights groups believe the real number could be triple that. Police are never prosecuted for these murders. The “War on Drugs” worsened during the COVID-19 lockdown as police killed fifty percent more people between April and July 2020 than they did in the previous four months. Police brutally enforced government-imposed lockdowns. Poor communities, human rights activists, and those who oppose the Duterte regime have been victims of physical and digital attacks. They are targeted by the military, national security agencies, and the police, who use social media to convey threats. On June 14, 2021, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested that the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber approve her investigation into the “drug war” crimes committed in the Philippines. The temporal scope of the investigation would cover the period between the Philippines’ induction into the ICC in 2011 and its subsequent withdrawal in 2019. Prosecutor Bensouda’s investigation is a step toward holding Duterte accountable for his crimes against humanity. On July 3, 2020, President Duterte signed the “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020,” creating a president-appointed anti-terrorism council authorized to designate individuals and groups as “terrorists” or members of a “terrorist organization.” It authorizes detention of suspects without charge for up to 24 days. The law permits 90 days of warrantless surveillance. Those convicted of "terrorism" may be sentenced to punishments that include life imprisonment without parole. Under the Act, Duterte’s administration can legally target critics of his regime by labeling them "terrorists." Genocide Watch recognizes the situation in the Philippines as Stage 8: Persecution. Mass murder of thousands of civilians in the "War on Drugs" has amounted to politicide, placing the Philippines at Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch recommends: The Philippine government should repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. The UN Human Rights Council should name an independent fact-finding mission to investigate the "War on Drugs" and abuses of human rights under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The International Criminal Court should investigate crimes against humanity committed by Duterte and agents of the government of the Philippines.

© File photo of militiamen of the Union for Peace in Central African Republic (UPC) armed group, patrol the city of Bokolobo, near Bambari, CAR. AFP - FLORENT VERGNES French anti-terrorism prosecutors in Paris are investigating allegations connected to Groupe Castel for possible complicity in war crimes in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to Reuters newswire, citing a source close to the matter. The source indicated that the local office of the large French drinks company is suspected of paying local militia. The investigation comes nearly a year after an article published on the US-based The Sentry investigative website last year that indicated that the local office had been giving Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) militia a vehicle and money in order to obtain a stronger hold on the drinks market there. The UPC has carried out murders, rapes, torture, and has displaced civilians, according to the United Nations. It adds the group has also engaged in illegal taxation, warfare, and arms trafficking. The source told Reuters that the investigation had been opened against “X”, and not targeting Groupe Castel or executives. This allows for prosecutors to investigate all possible aspects of the case. A spokesman for Bordeaux region-based Groupe Castel said the company was fully cooperating with French authorities. He added that after an internal investigation was launched after the first accusations, the company found no evidence of wrongdoing. One of the biggest drinks companies in the world, manufacturing wine and beverages, it also sells some of the most popular beers on the African continent. One French business magazine gives the Castel family fortune at an estimated 14 billion euros. The prosecutor's office would now be able to hear witnesses and order searches and seizures, said lawyers for the investigative news site The Sentry. "War profiteering has fueled long-term and devastating armed conflicts throughout the world, too often without legal and financial consequences for the perpetrators," said John Prendergast, co-founder of The Sentry. This probe shows that multinational companies can be held to account for criminal operations, even when working in countries with limited judicial systems, says Prendergast. © 2022 Radio France Internationale

Migrants in a transit camp in Agadez, Niger. © 2022 BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP. Local authorities in Agadez, Niger, say that more than 800 people, including children, were expelled from Algeria – many of whom are from Niger. "We have a total of 847 people including 40 women and 74 unaccompanied children. These people have already arrived in Agadez," Agadez city officials told Agence France Press. One of the largest cities in the north of the West African country, it was a hub for migrant traffic for nearly 10 years. The children are already in the care of the services of the Ministry of Child Protection, according to the officials. A humanitarian source said that Algerian authorities escorted them to the Algerian border, nearly 500 kilometers north of the city. They will be able to receive medical care and basic necessities, according to the source. Accusations of human dumping Algeria has regularly been accused by non-governmental organisations and Algerian groups of treating migrants brutally, including arrest and dumping them in the desert without food or water. The north African country has regularly denied these accusations, calling them “malicious”. Tens of thousands of irregular migrants from West and Central have been expelled from Algeria since 2014, according to United Nations statistics. "I was with others (children) at the home of a lady to whom we paid every day what we earned begging. She told me that she sent this money to my mother every month," said Sahabi, a child from Niger who was sent back to Agadez in June. He was arrested by the police in Algiers, he told Unicef. Although some migrants try to stay and live in Algeria, many are hoping to reach Europe, and use Algeria as a point to find transport across the Mediterranean Sea. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) statistics indicate that numbers of migrants expelled has gone up over the past three years: 23,171 in 2020, 27,208 in 2021 and 14,196 in the period from January to May 2022 alone. © 2022 RFI

By Eric Ross, Nat Hill, and Jessa Mellea Genocide Watch exists to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder. Genocide Watch actively monitors the progression of genocides and genocidal processes around the world. The purpose of this Genocide Watch report on Countries of Special Concern is to report on developments in countries with ongoing genocides, in countries at increased risk for genocidal massacres, and in countries of continued concern for genocidal violence. Based solely on developments over the past six months, the countries and regions of most concern are: Active Emergencies - Afghanistan, Central Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger), China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Nigeria. Situations of Increased Risk - Armenia/Azerbaijan, Belarus, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Israel/Palestine, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Russia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan/Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, and Venezuela. To view previous Genocide Watch Countries of Special Concern reports, see: Countries of Special Concern: July-December 2020 and Countries of Special Concern: January – July 2020. “Stages" refer to the ten genocidal processes monitored by Genocide Watch: The Ten Stages of Genocide. Active Emergencies Afghanistan Stages: Organization (5), Preparation (7), Persecution (8), Extermination (9) As the United States (U.S.) moves forward with its unconditional withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Taliban and Islamic State militants are escalating their genocidal assault on civilians. The Taliban and Islamic State are actively targeting those who have aided the U.S. as well as ethnic and religious minorities, women, and civil society members who oppose their rule. Much of the violence has been concentrated in Shia neighborhoods, home to the Hazara minority. While the Hazaras have been targets of Taliban attacks for decades, the Islamic State-affiliate in Afghanistan is also carrying out genocidal violence against the group, killing at least 1,200 Hazara civilians since 2015. In May 2021, an unclaimed militant attack on a Hazara girls’ school in West Kabul left more than 90 students dead. The Afghan militant groups are not targeting just Hazaras but have also intentionally targeted women in positions of power and civil society groups. Over the past six months, Taliban and Islamic State militants have assassinated several female judges, journalists, and human rights defenders, creating a climate of fear and repression reminiscent of when the Taliban last controlled the country from 1996-2001. Several reports document that the Taliban is currently at their greatest strength since 2001. With the looming U.S. retreat from Afghanistan, the country faces the immediate prospect of a return to Taliban-led fundamentalist rule marked by severe repression of women and minorities and genocidal violence. Genocide Watch predicts that Taliban genocide against the Hazara is imminent. Central Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) Stages: Organization (5), Polarization (6), Extermination (9) Islamist militants have continued to wage a genocidal campaign targeting civilians across the central Sahel region of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Since 2015, jihadist militants operating in the region have killed more than 8,000 civilians, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). Despite the high numbers killed already, this year is on pace to be the deadliest yet. Jihadist attacks in southwestern Niger have killed more than 400 civilians, including two massacres that killed at least 100 civilians. In June, a mass killing carried out by jihadist-recruited child solders in northeast Burkina Faso left at least 160 civilians dead. The continued violence has exacerbated a regional humanitarian and displacement crisis, with more than two million people internally displaced across the Sahel. After its failed counter-terrorism mission, Operation Barkhane, France announced an end to its 5,100-troop presence across the Sahel, leaving a further power vacuum for jihadist militants to expand their genocidal campaign. China Stages: Discrimination (3), Organization (5), Persecution (8), Extermination (9), Denial (10) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslim minority in western Xinjiang province. More than one million Uyghurs were detained in concentration camps, where they were tortured and coerced into renouncing their religious and cultural practices. Outside of the "re-education" camps, Uyghurs are subject to mass surveillance and forced labor. The goal of these policies is to destroy the Uyghur people as a distinct ethnic, religious, and cultural group. The CCP continues its systematic destruction of the Muslim presence in Xinjiang. The Chinese state has destroyed two-thirds of the mosques in the region. Due to CCP policies aimed at suppressing Uyghur population growth, birthrates in Xinjiang dropped nearly 50% from 2017-2019. A June 2021 study found that this trend will continue and could result in a reduction in Uyghur births by up to 4.6 million over the next two decades. These policies are in direct violation of Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Despite its prevention of Uyghur births and transfer of Uyghur children for Han Chinese "re-education," China vehemently denies its genocide. The movement to call China’s treatment of the Uyghurs what it is – genocide – has gained traction over the past six months with several governments including the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Lithuania making such declarations. However, this diplomatic and economic pressure has yielded little change in China's genocidal policies and practices. China has also continued its crackdown on minorities and political dissent in Tibet and Hong Kong. In Tibet, the CCP is instituting policies like those in Xinjiang to root out the threat of so-called “ethnic separatism.” In Hong Kong, China’s National Security Law, introduced in June 2020, has all but eliminated political freedom in the territory. At least 117 democracy activists, journalists, politicians, and students have been arrested over the past year. Most activists are now afraid to speak out against the Chinese repression. Democratic Republic of the Congo Stages: Persecution (8), Extermination (9) Violence continues to escalate in DRC’s far eastern Ituri and North and South Kivu provinces. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), the fighting has killed more than 1,000 people since January 2021 alone. The government, militants, and local militias continue to target the country’s Banyamulenge, Hema, and other minorities. The Ugandan based Islamist rebel group, the Allied Democratic Force (ADF), accounts for many of the massacres of civilians, killing at least 200 civilians through March 2021. The ADF has carried out further massacres since, killing at least 57 civilians in an attack in late May. The ADF claims ties to the so-called “Islamic State” as part of a growing trend of jihadist militancy in sub-Saharan Africa. The ADF has launched attacks along with remnants of the Rwandan Interahamwe and the DRC's Mai Mai. It commits mass rape whenever it attacks a village. The surge in ADF attacks across eastern DRC prompted the government to declare a “state of siege” in the DRC's eastern provinces in May 2021. Government actions have thus far been ineffective in reining in the violence. The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo near the regional hub of Goma in late May exacerbated regional instability, forcing up to one million residents to evacuate. The conflict combined with environmental displacement and the pandemic have catalyzed a humanitarian disaster with more than 27 million people, 1/3 of DRC’s population, facing acute levels of hunger. Ethiopia Stages: Persecution (8), Extermination (9), Denial (10) In November 2020, the Ethiopian military invaded the country’s northernmost regional state of Tigray in response to a Tigray People's Defense Force (TPLF) attack on an Ethiopian military base. The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and allied Eritrean troops have massacred at least 1,900 civilians in Tigray – with Tigrayan officials claiming the death toll stands at 50,000. The fighting has internally displaced more than 1.7 million people and forced more than 60,000 to flee to neighboring Sudan. The ENDF, Eritrean army, and Amhara militia forces have committed widespread and systematic atrocities across Tigray, including extrajudicial killings, airstrikes on civilian targets, torture, and sexual violence. Their violent assault has been genocidal in nature. At least one-third of attacks on civilians involve sexual violence by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers intent on “cleansing the bloodlines” of the Tigrayan people. The Ethiopian government has also instituted siege tactics on Tigray in order to starve the population, leaving an estimated 900,000 people at immediate risk of famine. Communal violence also continues across Ethiopia’s fractured ethnic regions, most notably in Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz, and the Southern People’s Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region, and along the Eritrean border zone. In these regions, ethnic-based massacres have become increasingly commonplace. Myanmar Stages: Persecution (8), Extermination (9), Denial (10) In a February 2021 coup, the Burmese military – the Tatmadaw – seized control of Myanmar, ousting the elected government led by Aung Sung-Su Kyi. The Tatmadaw has been a vicious human rights violator and perpetrator of genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority. Tatmadaw Commander Min Aung Hlaing, a chief architect of the genocide against the Rohingya, is now the de facto leader of the country. In response to the military coup, a massive protest movement formed with the aim of restoring civilian rule. The Tatmadaw has responded to protests with brutal crackdowns and reprisals, frequently firing on unarmed civilians and detaining anyone who stands in their path. In total, the junta has arrested at least 5,000 people, and killed more than 860 civilians, including dozens of children. Rohingya who have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh still live in extremely dire conditions and the threat of refugees being sent back to Myanmar remains serious. If Rohingya are forced back to Myanmar, they will face a high likelihood of further persecution by the military junta. Bangladeshi authorities have started to move Rohingya refugees to the low-lying island of Bhasan Char, which poses a high risk of annual flooding and which has inadequate facilities for the Rohingya refugees. Nigeria Stages: Organization (5), Polarization (6), Extermination (9), Denial (10) In the first six months of 2021, surging violence in Nigeria has left more than 1,600 civilians dead, according to ACLED. Most of the victims have been Christians. As an Islamist insurgency continues largely unabated and insecurity mounts across the country, Nigeria is at immediate risk of further genocidal violence. The UN recently updated its estimate of the direct and indirect death toll from jihadist violence in northeast Nigeria to more than 350,000 people. Despite the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in June, there is little reason to believe that either Boko Haram or its rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), will stop their attacks on Nigerians. Recent videos show Boko Haram fighters pledging allegiance to ISWAP. Violence against civilians has not been limited to Nigeria’s northeast. In the country’s northwest and “Middle Belt” regions there continues a combination of what the government has termed “armed banditry” and systematic genocidal assaults by Fulani jihadist militants against Christians. According to the International Committee on Nigeria, Fulani militants have killed at least 11,500 Christians since 2015. Since January, there has also been renewed conflict in Nigeria’s southeast between security forces and Igbo (Biafran) separatist groups. In June, after Twitter removed a tweet by President Muhammad Buhari threatening a violent response to the political unrest in the southeast, the Nigerian government suspended the social media platform. Situations of Increased Risk Azerbaijan Stages: Preparation (7), Persecution (8), Denial (10) Tensions along the Armenia-Azerbaijani border have escalated since Azerbaijan's invasion of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) ended with a November 2020 ceasefire agreement that awarded Azerbaijan substantial territory in Artsakh. The Azerbaijani government has increased its hateful anti-Armenian rhetoric on mass media. Its propaganda includes a shocking “Military Trophies” Park in Baku, which displays the helmets of dead Armenian soldiers alongside mannequins of Armenian soldiers with hooked noses and disfigured faces. Azerbaijan has begun a systematic campaign of vandalizing and destroying Armenian churches and cultural sites in the newly acquired territories of Karabakh. Azerbaijani forces killed one Armenian soldier on May 25th during a shootout in the Armenian province Gegharkunik, and recently captured six Armenian soldiers on May 27th in the same area. There have also been reported border incursions by Azerbaijan along the border of the Syunik Province in the south. Belarus Stages: Preparation (7), Persecution (8) Across Belarus, a mass protest movement against the nearly three-decade rule of President Alexander Lukashenko has continued in 2021 despite violent crackdowns on protestors by security forces. Journalists, protesters, and opposition leaders are frequently beaten, tortured, and imprisoned by the Lukashenko regime. Belarus is the only European country that practices capital punishment. The government gives families of prisoners no execution or burial date if authorities do carry out the death penalty. On May 23, 2021, the Belarussian government diverted Ryanair Flight 4978 into a forced landing in Belarus to detain opposition journalist Roman Protasvich, in violation of International Civil Aviation law. Central African Republic Stages: Organization (5), Polarization (6), Persecution (8) In late December 2020, a rebel coalition led by former president and war criminal François Bozizé sought to upend elections and seize power in the Central African Republic. In January, rebels attacked the capital Bangui and the surrounding areas, forcing officials to declare a “state of emergency.” In the period since, renewed violence between security forces, rebels, and foreign mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group, has forced more than 200,000 people to flee. Amid the fighting, armed groups and security forces have carried out massacres, including the February killing of at least 14 civilians at a religious site. The UN has accused Russian mercenaries of committing war crimes, including extrajudicial killings and torture. More than 2.8 million people in the CAR, more than half the country’s population, are now in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection. Chad Stages: Organization (5), Polarization (6) In April, rebels killed Chad’s president of more than three decades, Idriss Deby. In the day prior to his death, Deby was elected to a sixth term in office in a vote marred by political repression and a boycott by the opposition. After his killing, Deby’s son assumed control in circumvention of the constitution. Security forces have since led a violent crackdown on activists seeking the implementation of democracy and civilian rule in Chad. Chad has also witnessed continued ethnic violence misleadingly framed as “herder-farmer” conflict, with 35 civilians killed in communal clashes in February. The tensions between Fulani Muslim herders and often non-Muslim farmers presents a threat of future escalation of targeted ethnic violence in southern Chad. Colombia Stages: Organization (5), Persecution (8) Despite the 2016 peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government, armed militia groups continue to attack civilians, particularly human rights leaders and indigenous groups. Between January and June of 2021, armed militias killed 83 civilians. In some rural areas, these groups serve as the de facto police force, imposing strict limitations on civilians. Armed groups exact brutal consequences for those who do not comply with their extortion, including forced labor, sexual violence, and murder. Armed groups frequently carry out massacres and extrajudicial killings of civilians, with 175 reported victims in the last six months. Violence in border regions, including Norte de Santander and Nariño, reached record levels in 2021. Colombian state security forces perpetrate human rights abuses against civilians. During the mass protests that began in April 2021, police forces used excessive force against demonstrators, including firing into crowds of protesters. Human rights groups have reported dozens of deaths, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, sexual assaults, and serious injuries related to the protests. Israel/Palestine Stages: Discrimination (3), Polarization (6), Persecution (8) In May, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets at Israel in response to Israel's planned eviction of Palestinian residents from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem. Israel responded with bombing of Gaza aimed at destroying tunnels and homes of Hamas leaders. The subsequent 11-day conflict left 256 Palestinians in Gaza dead. Hamas rockets killed 13 civilians in Israel. Both sides committed war crimes, with Hamas indiscriminately firing more than 4,000 rockets on Israeli civilians and Israel conducting nighttime bombing raids without warning and evacuating civilians. The Israel-Gaza conflict spurred demonstrations in the West Bank, where the Israeli Defense Forces killed 34 Palestinians in May, the highest monthly toll in more than a decade. Palestinian protesters called for the resignation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who responded with a brutal crackdown, arresting suspected dissidents, including one prominent critic who was killed while being taken into custody. Mozambique Stages: Extermination (9) Over the past six months, the Islamist insurgency in Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province has continued to escalate. Fighting between Islamic-State linked jihadist militants and Mozambican security forces alongside allied foreign mercenaries (including members of the Russian Wagner Group) has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 800,000 residents of Cabo Delgado. All sides of the conflict have committed war crimes, including summary executions, abductions and arbitrary detentions, burning of homes and villages, looting, and sexual violence. A major militant offensive in the town of Palma in March killed dozens of civilians and forced an estimated 40,000 of Palma’s 75,000 residents to flee as militants massacred and beheaded civilians. The persistent conflict has created a massive humanitarian crisis with nearly one million Mozambicans facing severe risk of famine due to violence and displacement. Nicaragua Stages: Organization (5), Polarization (6) President Daniel Ortega led the Sandinista Marxist revolution that overthrew the corrupt Somoza dictatorship in 1979. He was defeated in the election of 1990. He returned to power in 2006 and has ruled Nicaragua with his wife since then. Ortega is currently leading a brutal crackdown on opposition leaders and protestors. Starting in 2018, journalists, students, politicians, and activists protested the corrupt and dictatorial regime of Ortega and his wife/Vice President Rosario Murillo. Since the crackdown began, security forces have killed more than 300 Nicaraguans and forced more than 100,000 to flee the country. In preparation for the November 7, 2021 Nicaraguan general election, Ortega has detained all five opposition candidates running for President, claiming that the candidates are plotting a coup against him. The Ortega regime uses police and organized mobs to intimidate activists and arrest opposition leaders. Russia Stages: Polarization (6), Preparation (7), Persecution (8), Denial (10) On August 20, 2020, government-sponsored agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB) poisoned Alexey Navalny, a founding member of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBC), a leading Russian opposition figure and "the man Vladimir Putin fears most.” After six months of recovery in a hospital in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia in January 2021. He was immediately detained at the airport on fabricated charges of violating his parole. Navalny was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison by a Moscow court. Navalny’s arrest has led to tens of thousands protesting in streets across Russia, demanding the release of Navalny and protesting the rampant corruption in Putin’s regime. State security forces have responded to the protests with brutal force, often beating and detaining unarmed demonstrators. Police have incarcerated an estimated 3,000 people in connection with the demonstrations. Russia has again become a police state. South Sudan Stages: Polarization (6), Extermination (9) South Sudan continues to be divided between Dinka and Nuer leaders and their ethnic allies. Both sides carry out genocidal massacres of the other side. South Sudan has been engulfed in ethnic conflict since its independence in 2011. The Dinka President Salva Kiir dismissed the Nuer Vice President Riek Machar in 2013, accusing him of planning a coup d’état. Bilateral genocide began shortly thereafter. Despite ongoing peace talks and a fragile ceasefire agreement, the Government of South Sudan led by President Salva Kiir has not stopped its attacks on the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition led by Vice President Riek Machar. The South Sudanese military, SPLM-O militias, and other armed groups carry out extrajudicial killings of civilians. State security forces arbitrarily detain political dissidents. Armed groups regularly commit genocidal massacres and sexual violence, targeting civilians along ethnic lines. Intercommunal violence, raids, and other attacks are frequent, killing hundreds and displacing thousands. From February to May 2021, ethnic militias killed at least 444 civilians. Interethnic tension and violent clashes continued throughout June, killing dozens. Approximately 2 million South Sudanese are internally displaced, and 2.2 million more have fled the country since the beginning of the conflict in 2013. Sri Lanka Stages: Organization (5), Persecution (8), Denial (10) The August 2020 Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka gave the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist Rajapaksa brothers firm control over the national and local governments. The brothers have long targeted the Tamil ethnic minority in the country. They actively support hate groups that have targeted Tamils with hate speech and incitements to ethnic violence. The Rajapaksa brothers and their political party, the Sri Lanka People’s Party, continue to block investigations and justice for the crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan army and the terrorist Tamil Tigers (LTTE) during the 1983 - 2009 civil war. No truth commission has been organized, as called for by the UN Human Rights Council in 2014 and by the previous Sri Lankan government of President Maithripala Sirisena in 2015. Islamophobia continues to rise in Sri Lanka. Buddhist monks, Sinhalese nationalists, and local hate groups have increased their campaign of incitement and persecution against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community. Mobs have vandalized mosques and Muslim businesses and the government has jailed several Muslim activists. The COVID-19 pandemic has been popularly blamed on Muslims. A forced cremation policy of COVID victims imposed by the Sri Lankan government denied Muslims their rights to hold Islamic burials. Sudan Stages: Preparation (7), Persecution (8), Extermination (9) Sudan’s transitional government, headed by both civilian and military leaders after the 2019 ouster of longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, has been unable to ensure peace in Sudan. Among Sudan's current leaders is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a.k.a. Hemetti, leader of the Janjaweed who committed genocide in Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a state security force that is only a new name for the Janjaweed, continues to commit atrocities, including rape, murder, and torture of civilians and peaceful protesters. The RSF and Arab militias carry out massacres of non-Arab Sudanese. They attack internally displaced persons camps in Darfur and other regions. Over 2.5 million people are internally displaced persons (IDPs). They live in IDP camps with limited access to food, shelter, and water. Since UNAMID, the joint UN/African Union peacekeeping mission, was withdrawn in 2021, IDPs remain extremely vulnerable to armed attacks. Militia attacks and displacements have escalated in the first half of 2021. Interethnic conflicts between Arab and non-Arab groups have killed hundreds, with outbreaks of violence in January, April, and June. By April 2021, violence displaced more than 237,000 people, about five times the number of people displaced in the entirety of 2020. Tajikistan/Kyrgyzstan Stages: Organization (5), Polarization (6) In April, ethnic clashes erupted on the contested border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the Fergana valley. The violence began in the border village of Kok-Tash in Leilek province after a local dispute over a security camera placed by Tajikistan authorities on the Kyrgyztan side of the border. Over the next three days, Tajik and Kyrgyz mobs attacked each other and destroyed property. Violence spread from Leilek province to other locations along the border zone. The Tajikistan military eventually entered the border region, set up roadblocks and fired mortars into Kyrgyz settlements, killing dozens, including several children. At least 36 Kyrgyz and 19 Tajiks were reportedly killed in the skirmishes. 40,000 Kyrgyz persons were evacuated or displaced from the border zone. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire on May 1, 2021 and committed to demilitarization of the border. Uganda Stages: Discrimination (3), Polarization (6), Persecution (8) Minority ethnic groups, including the Batwa and Maragoli populations, are marginalized and subjected to discrimination. The Ugandan government does not recognize the Maragoli community as Ugandan and denies members national identity cards. Since the government displaced the Batwa from their homelands in the 1990s without compensation, the Batwa group has been unable to depend on its traditional methods of hunting and gathering, seriously threatening the survival of the group. Batwa minority groups have also experienced exploitation and violence in the DR Congo and Rwanda. LGBTQI+ Ugandans face severe discrimination. Ugandan law provides no legal protection against discrimination for LGBTQI+ individuals. Same-sex sexual relations are illegal, and Ugandan courts punish “offenders” with up to life in prison. Politicians and other authorities incite hatred and violence against the LGBTQI+ community. LGBTQI+ Ugandans are frequent victims of harassment, beatings, and murders. In May, the Ugandan Parliament passed the Sexual Offenses Bill, which criminalizes same-sex sexual acts. Security forces regularly commit major human rights abuses, including beatings, extortion, and extrajudicial killings of civilians. Unlawful killings and police brutality have increased in the past year as security forces have used the enforcement of lockdown measures as a pretext for further abuses. Police forces arbitrarily detain and torture political dissidents. Conditions in detention centers are inhumane and some detainees are subjected to forced labor. Human rights abuses increased surrounding Uganda’s January 14, 2021 election. Security forces backing incumbent President Yoweri Museveni harassed, attacked, and killed protesters, journalists, and supporters of Museveni’s opposition. Government police and military forces have been abducting and torturing political dissidents following the election. Venezuela Stages: Polarization (6), Persecution (8) Venezuelan security forces are carrying out a systematic campaign of violence targeting political opponents of the Maduro regime. Security forces have killed tens of thousands of civilians and committed egregious human rights abuses and crimes against humanity, including forced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, and arbitrary detention. The Maduro regime carries out extrajudicial killings of civilians, targeting human rights defenders and protesters. Armed groups use violence to control the lives and everyday activities of Venezuelans in parts of Caracas and in other regions of the country, often with the consent or cooperation of government-backed forces. These groups commit serious human rights violations with impunity, including murders, disappearances, and forced labor. Armed groups have made explicit threats to carry out “social cleansing” of “undesirable” populations such as suspected criminals and drug addicts. Government security forces committed murders of at least 486 civilians between January and June 2021. In March, Venezuelan state security forces launched an attack on Colombian armed groups in Apure, a border region, displacing thousands. During the offensive, Venezuelan forces committed “egregious abuses” of human rights, including torture and extrajudicial killings. Amid a man-made humanitarian and economic crisis millions of Venezuelans cannot access food, basic healthcare, or water. More than 5.4 million Venezuelans have fled the country. For more information about countries of special concern, visit the Genocide Watch website. Report written by Early Warning Analysts: Eric Ross, Nat Hill & Jessa Mellea.