#EndReprisals

Armel Niyongere, Dieudonné Bashirahishize, Vital Nshimirimana and Lambert Nigarura are four lawyers, human rights defenders and activists from Burundi. They are prominent and well-respected figures within Burundian civil society and their local communities.

They publicly denounced and condemned the use of violence by the Government of Burundi, including following citizens’ protests in 2015, when the former Burundian President, Pierre Nkurunziza, sought a third term in violation of the country’s Constitution.

Fearing for their safety given the violent targeting of protestors by the Government, the lawyers fled Burundi in May and June 2015. To date, they have not been able to return to Burundi out of fear of suffering additional retaliatory actions.

Nfor Hanson Nchanji is an award-winning Human Rights Journalist from Cameroon. He has worked for Douala-based Equinoxe Television and is the founder of the online news outlet Cameroon News Agency.

He has reported on the tensions in Cameroon's English-speaking regions, becoming a staunch advocate for the rights of the country's English-speaking communities since the outset of the Anglophone crisis, in 2016, during which he documented and denounced abuses committed both by government and separatists forces.

As a result of his reporting and activism, Hanson Nchanji has faced threats and harassment campaigns seemingly orchestrated by supporters of the Francophone government. He is currently in exile.

Organic Farming for Gorillas (OFFGO), is an organisation founded in September 2015 that aims to support the practices and rights of traditional farming and nomadic livestock communities in the North West Region of Cameroon.

In May 2019, Special Procedures mandate holders expressed concern about a defamation campaign and acts of reprisals against OFFGO, who had published information about abuses and disputes linked to land and business operations in Cameroon.

The defamation campaign began in 2015, following OFFGO's publication of a report describing how communities were facing 'systematic intimidation and harassment by local administrative and judicial authorities' and denouncing a 'serious case of alleged land grabbing by a tea and cattle corporation.'

A former mathematics and physics professor, Alfredo Okenve is a human rights defender and anti-corruption activist from Equatorial Guinea. He is the president of the NGO Centro de Estudios e Iniciativas para el Desarrollo de Guinea Ecuatorial (CEIDGE).

His advocacy and activism, including his engagement with UN bodies, and in particular his efforts to highlight issues of transparency related to the work of extractive industry actors present in the country, have been met with stark responses from Equatoguinean authorities. The latter have engaged in repeated acts of reprisals against him in recent years.