US-Africa: Make Human Rights Central to Summit

Obama Should Press African Leaders to End Repression

August 5, 2014, Washington, DC (HRW) – US President Barack Obama should ensure that human rights concerns are a major focus of the US-Africa Leaders Summit, Human Rights Watch said today. Rights concerns should not be relegated to meetings in the margins of the summit. The theme of the August 4-6, 2014 summit in Washington, DC, is “Investing in Our Future.”

The summit will host some 45 African heads of state, at least a dozen of whom lead repressive governments that have imprisoned journalists, human rights defenders, and anti-corruption campaigners. Many have approved laws that stifle freedom of expression and used national security, defamation, and anti-terrorism laws to prosecute independent writers, protesters, and activists who criticize government policy. Read more…