Unlawful Killings in Africa a study prepared for the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Centre of Governance and Human Rights The Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR), launched in 2009, draws together experts, practitioners and policymakers from the University of Cambridge and far beyond to think critically and innovatively about pressing governance and human rights issues throughout the world, with a special focus on Africa. The Centre aims to be a world-class interdisciplinary hub for fresh thinking, collaborative research and improving practice. Since 2011 CGHR has collaborated with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, providing research support to his mandate. In 2012 a team of researchers produced a “Research Pack” on the threats to the right to life of journalists for an Expert Meeting held in Cambridge, ultimately contributing to the Special Rapporteur’s report that year to the Human Rights Council. In 2013 work began on a broader collaboration studying violations of the right to life across the African continent. Editor: Dr Thomas Probert Publisher: Centre of Governance and Human Rights, University of Cambridge Contact: [email protected] | +44 (0) 1223 767257 | www.cghr.polis.cam.ac.uk Cover image: Police from Abyei en route to Tajalei, a village burned to the ground allegedly by northern People’s Defence Forces and troops from the Sudan Armed Forces (Tim Freccia, 12 March 2011). Licensed under Creative Commons by the ENOUGH Project. Preface by the Director of the Centre of Governance and Human Rights ......................................................iv The CGHR Research Team & Note on Sources ................................................................................................ v Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 The Special Rapporteur and the Right to Life ................................................................................................. 1 Measuring Global & African Violence ............................................................................................................. 6 Studying the Incidence of Unlawful Killings .................................................................................................. 12 Excessive Use of Force ............................................................................................................. 21 Mass Demonstrations ................................................................................................................................... 21 Policing and Counter-Terrorism Activities .................................................................................................... 58 Custodial Deaths ........................................................................................................................................... 71 Political Killing ......................................................................................................................... 89 Targeted Killing of Political Opponents ........................................................................................................ 89 Election-Related Violence ........................................................................................................................... 102 Arbitrary Application of the Death Penalty ............................................................................. 129 Conditioned Homicide ........................................................................................................... 149 Infanticide ................................................................................................................................................... 149 Killings Associated with Spiritual Beliefs ..................................................................................................... 153 Honour Killing & Other Domestic Killings ................................................................................................... 168 Hate Crime .................................................................................................................................................. 175 Mass Actor Killings ................................................................................................................ 187 Vigilantism .................................................................................................................................................. 187 Social/Ethnic Cleansing ............................................................................................................................... 194 Land Disputes ............................................................................................................................................. 199 Organised Actor Killings ......................................................................................................... 206 Private Security Companies ........................................................................................................................ 206 Organised Crime ......................................................................................................................................... 217 Targeted Killing of Vulnerable Groups .................................................................................... 223 Journalists ................................................................................................................................................... 223 Human Rights Defenders ............................................................................................................................ 233 Humanitarian Aid Workers ......................................................................................................................... 237 Unlawful Killings in Armed Conflict and Ungoverned Spaces ................................................... 241 Unlawful Killings in Africa: The Need for Further Work ........................................................... 254 Preface by the Director of the Centre of Governance and Human Rights As a young interdisciplinary research centre, drawing together academics across Cambridge (and beyond) on pressing themes of governance and human rights, I am delighted that CGHR have published this Report. Our work with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Prof. Christof Heyns represents the Centre’s most long-standing initiatives in policy-collaboration. The project is linked with an academic partnership with the University of Pretoria, generously supported by the David and Elaine Potter Foundation. I want to pay tribute to the CGHR Research Team that was coordinated by Dr Thomas Probert. Including both undergraduates and post-graduate students across at least three different faculties, their commitment to this project drove it throughout, and allowed the Centre to contribute usefully and meaningfully to the work of the Special Rapporteur. This study on the nature and incidence of unlawful killings in Africa helps address a particular hole in the knowledge base of human rights institutions, activists and researchers, who seek to tackle an unmistakably alarming phenomenon in many African countries: the State’s direct and indirect role in violations of the right to life of African people. The study provides a unifying framework for rigorously sourcing, monitoring and analysing the many ways in which unlawful killings are perpetrated and perpetuated, and it provides an important evidentiary basis for building more systematic efforts to identify, priortise and target entry points for action. By synthesising and organising the ongoing reporting work of diverse organisations, the study is a foundational contribution to more sustained and sustainable efforts by other institutions and individuals, more directly and operationally seized of this issue. It is also my hope that CGHR will continue to support their work in the coming years. Dr Sharath Srinivasan Director, Centre of Governance and Human Rights University of Cambridge iv The CGHR Research Team Research Coordinator & Editor: Thomas Probert Researchers: Katherine Bruce-Lockhart Meenakshi Krishnan Sophie Roborgh Lou Cantwell Sean McCormick Justin Selner Mary Goodhart Dwayne Menezes Sam Sherman Charlotte Kelly Eva Namusoke Alexia Solomou Note on Sources In many cases the information contained particularly in the “Geographical Distribution” sections of this study has been drawn from the annual reporting of various actors and agencies that monitor human rights on the ground. Amnesty International publishes Annual Reports generally in May, concerning events in the previous calendar year (so the 2014 report covers events from January-December 2013). Annual Reports, along with all other Amnesty reporting, can be downloaded from the Library available here: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library. Likewise, Human Rights Watch publishes its annual World Report generally in February. As with Amnesty, these reports concern events in the previous year. Previous Human Rights Watch World Reports can be downloaded here: http://www.hrw.org/node/79288. The U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are made public in February