West Africa

West Africa
West Africa
The Danish Institute for Human Rights has many years of experience from working in the Sahel region. Currently, we have country programmes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in addition to our regional activities.

The region is being torn by several conflicts with armed groups fighting to control vast territories for trafficking of all kinds; jihadists are still present in Mali’s northern regions; terrorist groups close to Al Qaida threaten to kidnap people; and the sect of Boko Haram terrorises vast stretches of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroun.

Security forces, including the police, are therefore a key target group for the protection of rights in West Africa. Also, in a region with the lowest human development index and the highest illiteracy rates in the world human rights documentation and knowledge is crucial.

 

Our regional programme 2015-2017

The goals for the regional activities in West Africa are:

  • Solid human rights expertise established in the region
  • The promotion of human rights based law enforcement at regional level through the West African platform on police and human rights
  • The recognition of the role of the police in the promotion of human rights by governments and law enforcement agencies in West Africa.

Promoting the development of the human rights expertise of our partners and state actors is important to enable them to bring changes relating to central human rights issues.

Partners

 

 

 

  • The Chaire Unesco for human rights and democracy at the Aboumey-Calavi University’s Faculty of Law, Cotonou, Benin
  • The West African platform on human rights and policing (POLI.DH)

 

Brief facts

Geography: Region consisting of 15 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cap Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Demography: Population in West Africa is 340 million.

Economy: GDP per capita (current USD 2015): USD 1,655.

Politics:  The 15 states cooperate closely through the Economic Cooperation of West African States (ECOWAS) whose headquarters are in Abuja in Nigeria.

Official languages: English, French and Portuguese.
 
Source: http://knoema.com/AfDBSED2014Jan/afdb-socio-economic-database-jan-2014?region=1000690-ecowas