Background
A new constitution, extending the presidential term from five to seven years, was adopted by referendum, with nearly 90% of voters in favour, according to the results announced by the Supreme Court on 26 September.
The presidential elections were held on 28 December. Opposition parties condemned the fact that the transitional president, Mamadi Doumbouya, who assumed power through a coup in 2021, ran as a candidate in violation of the transition charter.
Freedom of association
On 9 January, the minister of territorial administration and decentralization ordered political movements “without prior administrative authorization” to cease their activities. This decision came three days after a demonstration demanding the departure of the ruling military.
On 10 January, authorities resumed issuing licences to associations and NGOs after a four-month suspension.
On 23 August, three main opposition parties, Guinean People’s Rally, Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, and Party of Renewal and Progress, were suspended for three months. According to an announcement by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, these suspensions were for non-compliance with their obligations.
Freedom of expression
On 7 January, opposition leader Aliou Bah, president of the Liberal Democratic Movement political party, was sentenced to two years in prison. He was convicted of “insulting and defaming” the transitional president Mamadi Doumbouya. On 28 May, the Conakry Court of Appeal upheld his conviction.
On 14 July, Ibrahima Koné, director of the government-run newspaper Horoya, and Daouda Taban Sylla, a journalist at the public news broadcaster RTG, were interrogated by the national police. They were accused of spreading an erroneous version of the draft new constitution. They were released the following day.
On 6 September, the online news service guineematin.com was suspended by the High Authority of Communication due to “violation of current regulations” and “illegal activity and non-compliance”, among other charges. The suspension was lifted four days later.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
Authorities continued to enforce the 2022 ban on all protests and violently repress the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
On 6 January, a coalition of opposition forces, known as “Living Forces of Guinea”, organized a demonstration to demand an end to military rule. They claimed that security forces killed three young men during the protest.
Enforced disappearances
Activists, journalists and opposition leaders were victims of enforced disappearances and abductions.1
On 19 February, Abdoul Sacko, national coordinator of the Forum of Social Forces of Guinea, was abducted by hooded men in uniforms, according to media reports. He was found later that day, “in a critical state, tortured and abandoned by his abductors in the bush”, according to his lawyers.
Mohamed Traoré, former president of the Guinean Bar Association, and a vocal critic of the authorities, was abducted from his home in June by a group of six heavily armed men. He was released hours later. On 23 June, the public prosecutor announced that an investigation had been opened into his abduction.
On 20 November, the OHCHR, the UN human rights office, shared its concerns regarding the alleged enforced disappearance of the children and other relatives of opposition figure and artist Elie Kamano, by armed men on 16 November.
The fate and whereabouts of Mamadou Billo Bah and Oumar Sylla, two leaders of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), remained unknown at year’s end, despite the announcement of a judicial investigation into their disappearance. According to a third FNDC member who was abducted with them on 9 July 2024 and released the following day, they were taken by special forces to the Loos archipelago.
The fate and whereabouts of Habib Marouane Camara, managing director of Le Révélateur news website, abducted in December 2024, remained unknown.
Right to truth, justice and reparation
On 10 March, at least 98 families filed complaints following the stadium stampede in December 2024 in the country’s second largest city, Nzérékoré. Official figures confirm that 56 people died in the disaster; however local NGOs report that the death toll was 140 people. The complaints had not been acted upon by the end of the year.
On 28 March, the transitional president granted a pardon to former head of state Moussa Dadis Camara, citing health reasons and the aim of promoting national reconciliation. Moussa Dadis Camara was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2024 for crimes against humanity relating to a massacre on 28 September 2009, during which at least 156 people were killed and more than 100 women were raped at an opposition rally in a stadium in the capital, Conakry. Moussa Dadis Camara’s release after only two and a half years in detention, and the lack of public information regarding his state of health, sparked doubts about the reasons for his release and concerns about selective justice.
Economic, social and cultural rights
Labour rights abuses persisted in plantations linked to the state-owned rubber tree and oil palm company in the south-eastern region of Nzérékoré. Workers were paid well below the national minimum wage and faced potentially hazardous working conditions.2
Right to a healthy environment
On 1 July, the Guinean authorities announced a nationwide ban on logging and timber transportation activities from 7 July to 30 September. This was to uphold the biological rest period, intended to protect forest resources severely threatened by intense, often uncontrolled, logging. According to the international NGO Global Forest Watch, Guinea lost nearly 30% of its forest cover over the past 30 years.
