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Mali

Mali: Violations and Abuses as Instability Spreads - Amnesty International Submission for the UN Universal Periodic Review, 29th Session of the UPR Working Group, January 2018

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INTRODUCTION

Since the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mali in 2013, instability has spread from the north to the centre of the country, with a growing number of armed groups carrying out attacks. The state of emergency, first imposed in November 2015, has been repeatedly extended, most recently in April 2017. Amnesty International has consistently expressed its concern about a wide range of violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law committed by Malian security forces and international forces on one hand, and armed groups on the other hand.

This document was prepared as a submission for the UPR of Mali in January 2018. In it, Amnesty International evaluates the implementation of recommendations made to Mali in its previous UPR, assesses the national human rights framework and the human rights situation on the ground, and makes a number of recommendations to the government of Mali to address the human rights challenges mentioned in this report.

Amnesty International is concerned about shortcomings in domestic law, including in relation to police searches and the length of time a person may be held in police custody and discriminatory provisions in the Persons and Family Code.

Amnesty International also raises concerns about excessive use of force and extrajudicial executions by Malian security forces and UN peacekeepers, impunity for serious human rights abuses in the context of the armed conflict, poor conditions and overcrowding in prisons, the retention in law of the death penalty, lack of access to education in conflict-affected regions, and crimes under international law committed by armed groups.