The Amnesty International in its 2022 annual report on Monday, disclosed that insecurity, hunger, abuse of human rights undermine countries in Africa.
The report titled “Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The State of the World’s Human Rights” revealed the effects of conflicts in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It added that the rights of millions of people to food, health and adequate standard of living have been undermined in all the African continent.
“Food insecurity worsened due to conflict and drought in several African countries, leaving many people facing acute hunger including in Angola, Burkina Faso, CAR, Chad, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
“In Angola, food insecurity in the Cunene, Huíla and Namibe provinces was among the worst in the world and in some of these areas, adults and children resorted to eating stalks of grass to survive,” the report read.
It also added that journalists, human rights defenders and political opposition are faced with repression in many Africa nations, noting that “double standards and inadequate responses to human rights abuses fuelled impunity and instability.”
These countries include Cameroon, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal and Zimbabwe.
“The deaths of scores of protesters were reported and attributed to excessive use of force by security forces in Nigeria, Chad, DRC, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan, among other countries.”
AI also disclosed that recovery efforts from the coronavirus pandemic were largely delayed by conflicts, economic shocks arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and extreme weather conditions exacerbated by climate change.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine interrupted wheat supplies that many African countries depend on. Rising fuel costs, another consequence of the war in Europe, caused considerable spikes in food prices which hit the most marginalised groups the hardest,” it added.
