Report  Posté le 09:24 21-08-2023, modifié le 09:24 21-08-2023 par Tournons La Page

Download the report here [only available in French]

This report, entitled "Civic space in the Gabonese Republic: the screen of arbitrariness", is the fruit of a collaborative effort between the Tournons La Page (TLP) international secretariat and the Tournons La Page coalition in Gabon (TLP-Gabon). Thanks to its members, TLP-Gabon has gathered information, testimonies, interviews, statements and images on human rights violations that have occurred in the country since 2016

The report analyzes national and international legal texts applicable to human rights and highlights the repressive provisions currently in force in Gabon, which run counter to the obligations the country has undertaken by ratifying international treaties. It then takes stock of the various types of violations committed (arbitrary detentions, bans on demonstrations and meetings, internet blackouts...) in order to demonstrate their recurrence and the dynamic of shrinking civic space at work in Gabon, which has accelerated since 2016, the date of the last presidential election whose results were widely contested by the opposition and international opinion. This situation was accentuated in 2020 with the activation of the state of emergency regime decreed during the Covid-19 crisis, finally lifted on March 14, 2022. Since the 2016 presidential election, there have been at least 864 arrests, 12 demonstrations banned or repressed, 13 newspapers suspended and 34 days of internet blackouts.

The report does not set out to provide an exhaustive account of the violations committed, but aims to demonstrate the scale and system underlying the repression carried out by the authorities against the civilian population since 2016. To this end, it reports, in chronological order, and on the basis of varied evidence or documented allegations, the various human rights violations committed.