Statement from the Kal-Akal AssociationConcerning the Human Rights Watch Report Published on May 20, 2025

The Kal-Akal Association acknowledges the recent report released by Human Rights Watch on May 20, 2025, which documents serious human rights violations in central and southern Mali, including the summary execution of 22 men.

We commend Human Rights Watch for its ongoing efforts to document such abuses and to promote accountability. This work is essential in the global fight against impunity.

However, we wish to express our deep concern over the report’s omission of the persistent and well-documented abuses occurring in the Azawad regions (northern Mali). Since the resumption of hostilities in August 2023 between the Malian state and the signatory movements of the Algiers Agreement, communities in Azawad have suffered a wide range of violations: arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, forced displacement, and other acts of violence. These abuses have been consistently reported by survivors, eyewitnesses, and humanitarian actors on the ground.

The continued exclusion of these violations from major international human rights reports risks reinforcing a sense of marginalization and injustice among the affected populations.

We therefore respectfully urge Human Rights Watch to broaden the scope of its investigations to encompass all regions of Mali, including the north, in order to ensure a fair, balanced, and inclusive representation of the human rights situation throughout the country.

For justice to be credible, it must be impartial. Every individual—regardless of geography, ethnicity, or political context—deserves equal recognition, empathy, and protection under international human rights standards.

The Kal-Akal Association reaffirms its willingness to provide verified documentation of the violations committed in Azawad and stands ready to support any serious, evidence-based effort aimed at shedding light on the suffering endured by our communities.

Kal-Akal Association
May 21 2025