Human Rights in Togo

Human Rights In Togo

Togo, a small, poor country in West Africa that was labeled “Not Free” by Freedom House from 1972 to 1998, and again from 2002 to 2006, and that has been categorized as “Partly Free” from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2007 to the present, has very serious and longstanding human-rights problems. According to a U.S. State Department report based on conditions in 2010, they include “security force use of excessive force, including torture, which resulted in deaths and injuries; official impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; lengthy pretrial detention; executive influence over the judiciary; infringement of citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedoms of press, assembly, and movement; official corruption; discrimination and violence against women; child abuse, including female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual exploitation of children; regional and ethnic discrimination; trafficking in persons, especially women and children; societal discrimination against persons with disabilities; official and societal discrimination against homosexual persons; societal discrimination against persons with HIV; and forced labor, including by children.”