Human rights in Guinea, a nation of approximately 10,069,000 people in West Africa, are a contentious issue. In its 2012 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House named Guinea "partly free" for the second year in a row, an improvement over its former status as one of the least free countries in Africa.
The United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which produces annual human rights reports on the country, claims the most pressing human rights issues are the use of torture by security forces, and abuse of women and children through such acts as female genital mutilation.
Historical and political situation
Guinea gained its independence from France in 1958. Alpha Condé won the 2010 presidential election and in December 2010 become the country's first democratically elected president. The following chart shows Guinea's ratings since 1972 in the Freedom in the World reports, published annually by Freedom House. A rating of 1 is "free"; 7, "not free".
Sekou Touré regime (1954–1984) Amnesty International was claiming Guinea contained prisoners of conscience as early as their 1969 report. In 1968 over one hundred people were arrested, and 13 sentenced to the death penalty, for their roles in an alleged plot against the government. Included in those arrested were cabinet ministers and high-level military officers. After the 1970 Portuguese invasion of the capital, the government stepped up its campaign against political opposition and by the end of the year at least 85 people had reportedly been sentenced to death. Thousands had been arrested, including 22 Europeans, Germans, French, and Italians among them.
In December 1970 the Archbishop of Conakry, Raymond-Marie Tchidimbo, was sentenced to hard labour for refusing to read government documents from the pulpit calling on Christians to support the government against foreign imperialism. He and at least a thousand other political prisoners remained detained in 1977. A report published in June 1977 by the International League for Human Rights estimated the number of political prisoners at over 3000, alleging prisoners were subject to starvation, torture, murder, and arbitrary execution. The most notorious prison was Camp Boiro, which included amongst its prisoners Diallo Telli.
After severe criticism of its human rights situation, and the withholding of aid by the United States under the Food for Peace Act, the government attempted a rapprochement strategy with its neighbours and the West, and claimed to be improving its internal situation. In August and October 1977, however, the government fired upon a series of economic protests and killed an unknown number of women. They then began to round up those thought responsible. By 1978 reports were estimating the number of political prisoners had grown to 4000.
In late 1978 President Sékou Touré proclaimed to journalists that all prisoners who had been sentenced to execution at Boiro were now dead. He went on to explain that Amnesty International was "trash". By 1979 reports were claiming fewer than 20 of the original arrestees were still being held at Boiro. Hundreds who had been arrested never reappeared, however, and some sources put the number dead at over 4000. Arrests continued, however.
A May 1980 grenade attack on the Palais du Peuple and a February 1981 bomb explosion at Conakry Airport precipitated two more waves of politically motivated arrests, with hundreds detained and reports of death. People continued to be killed at Boiro through what was known as the "black diet" – a complete lack of food and water. The Guinean government also reached agreements with the governments of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire to forcibly repatriate expatriates involved in opposition activity. Reports of detainment and beatings upon their arrival leaked to the outside world.
In September 1982, Touré held a news conference proudly proclaiming that there were no more political prisoners being held in the country. He could not explain the fate of approximately 2900 people arrested since 1969 who remained unaccounted for. Reports of the number of prisoners at Boiro continued to range from several hundred to thousands. Torture methods reportedly used at the prison included bondage, forced burning with cigarettes, and electric shocks applied to the head and genitals. After Touré's death in March 1984, major political changes were afoot.