According to the CIVICUS Monitor, civic space in Niger is rated as “repressed”. Niger faces uncertainties following a coup on 26th July 2023, when President Mohamed Bazoum was deposed and the military suspended the constitution and created the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland. The state of Niger’s civic space is at risk with repressive laws undermining fundamental freedoms and civic space violations documented since 2014. Violations include mass arrests of activists and journalists, systematic bans of protests, and internet disruptions and blackouts. 

Human rights defenders are being detained and subjected to judicial procedures for ‘dissemination of data likely to disturb public order’ under the 2019 Repression of Cybercrimes Law since the start of 2023. The restrictive 2019 Law on the Repression of Cybercrimes, which since its enactment has been used to silence dissenting voices, was revised in April 2022, and, with these revisions, defamation and insults via electronic information systems no longer lead to custodial sentences but fines. This was a welcome development for freedom of expression in Niger, as well as the new law on human rights defenders adopted by Niger’s legislators in June 2022. 

For more information about the country, visit: https://monitor.civicus.org/country/niger/

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