Restrictions are gradually increasing across Africa

In recent months, protesters in Algeria and Sudan have persisted in resisting government repression. Removal long-term political leaders. Unfortunately, these two countries are the exception rather than the norm.

Political opposition groups across the continent often face different fates as governments adopt various strategies to restrict freedom and dissent. These strategies include Turn off the internet (Cameroon, Zimbabwe), magnificent Social Media Tax (Uganda), and imposed Blog License (Tanzania). The government also resorted to direct violence BurundiSenegal, Togo and Zambia.

Freedom House Freedom in the World Report 2019 This suggests that political liberalization in countries such as Ethiopia and the Gambia masks a general trend toward “creeping restriction” and authoritarian behavior.

This trend has recently Polls The survey was conducted by Afrobarometer, an independent African research network. It was conducted in 34 countries between late 2016 and late 2018. In all countries surveyed, citizens on average seemed to confirm that civic and political space is shrinking. Many also expressed a willingness to accept restrictions on their freedoms in the name of security.

Shrinking political space

Two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they were free to express themselves at least “somewhat”. Across 31 countries, this has fallen by 7 percentage points since 2011/2013.

When it comes to the freedom to discuss politics, the picture is even more worrying: 68% of people feel they need to be careful about what they say. Across the sample of 20 countries tracked over the past decade, the number of people expressing caution has increased by 9 percentage points.

If freedom is declining, so is the demand for it. Six in ten respondents (62%) believe that citizens should be able to join any political organization of their choice. However, in 21 countries surveyed, adherence to freedom of association fell by at least 3 percentage points. Only in seven countries did adherence to freedom of association increase (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Change in support for the freedom to join any organization (percentage points) | 33 countries | 2008-2018

Note: The Gambia is not shown because it was first surveyed in 2018.

In Gabon and Togo, where more than 80 percent of citizens oppose the government’s right to ban organizations that violate its policies, governments are struggling to suppress growing dissatisfaction with the political process.

In contrast, in Tanzania, only 39% of citizens support full freedom of association. Tanzanian Government Recent steps to close political spaceSimilarly, there was support for greater social control in Kenya, where only 47 percent of respondents supported freedom of association.

Personal freedom and security?

The second troubling trend is that people are quite willing to accept the government restricting personal freedoms in the name of public safety. For example, a slight majority (53%) support people’s right to private communications. But a significant portion (43%) are willing to accept that the government has the right to monitor private communications to ensure that people are not planning violent activities. This includes monitoring their cell phones.

More than two-thirds of respondents in Zimbabwe, Gabon and Sudan, where civil liberties remain questionable, supported the right to private communications. But in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Senegal and Mali, only about a third of citizens or less chose freedom over security when it comes to private communications.

Forty-nine percent of respondents support complete freedom of religious expression, while 47% believe the government should be able to regulate speech in places of worship. The countries with the lowest support for religious freedom are Tunisia (21%), Mali (23%) and Senegal (31%). (Both Mali and Tunisia have experienced significant extremist violence.)

Support for freedom of movement is even weaker. Only about a third of Africans (35%) say that even if their country faces a security threat,

People should be able to move freely across the country at any time of day or night.

Political liberalization

Because trends in the demand for and supply of freedoms vary widely across countries, more detailed country-level analysis would be helpful. In particular, looking at countries that have experienced significant political liberalization in recent years, we find that Gambians generally support freedoms of association, communication, and expression in religious places. But they support the idea that the government should be able to impose curfews and roadblocks.

In contrast, in Burkina Faso and Tunisia, majorities support government monitoring of private communications, regulation of religious expression, and restrictions on free movement, with moderate support for freedom of association.

The level of support for restrictive measures taken by the governments of Burkina Faso and Tunisia is worrying, as the process of political liberalization in these two countries is just beginning and remains fragile.

In Zimbabwe, the new government believes ‘New system’ This is despite citizens generally enjoying fundamental freedoms and levels of freedom of expression having remained unchanged over the past decade since the ouster of former President Robert Mugabe.

But Zimbabweans expressed great caution in exercising fundamental freedoms, indicating skepticism about the government’s political liberalisation gesture.

Finally, more mature democracies present a mixed picture. On the one hand, citizens in Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe generally embrace fundamental freedoms. They also reject restrictions on freedoms based on security threats. However, Ghana’s high tolerance for restrictions on fundamental freedoms highlights the powerful force that limits individual freedoms in the name of security in much of Africa.