Human Rights Watch on June 29 criticized insurgent armed groups, the Malian armed forces and allied militias, and Russian mercenaries, which have all committed "serious abuses of human rights against civilians" amid an internal conflict that has further fueled long-standing ethnic tensions in the country.

Commenting on the large scale of atrocities committed against civilians in Mali, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, Ilaria Allegrozzi, stated:

As fighting flares up again, the warring parties in Mali are once again carrying out grave abuses against civilians, repeating former patterns of harming civilians… All parties are obligated to respect international humanitarian law, take all feasible steps to avoid civilian harm, and facilitate access to humanitarian aid.

The crisis in Mali began in January 2012, after a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north allied with Islamist armed groups and seized much of the country’s territory. However, a sudden intensification of violence began this April after the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam & Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM) formed a pact with Tuareg fighters of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a faction with which they have had a rocky relationship, to carry out attacks across Mali.

Although they have formed a temporary alliance, the two insurgent have differing ideologies. JNIM seeks to establish an ultra-conservative Islamic state across the Sahel region, whereas the Tuareg separatists are fighting for the independence of their homeland in Mali’s north, Azawad. In response to their unprecedented alliance, the Malian armed forces has carried out air-strikes, which resulted in multiple fatalities. The armed forces and militia groups are also believed to have carried out reprisals against Fulani communities, who are stigmatized as JNIM collaborators. Russian fighters from the Africa Corps (formerly the Wagner Group) have also participated in atrocities.

Human Rights Watch has criticized all sides in the conflict for contributing to the mass suffering of the civilian population, noting abuses such as publicly executing civilians, burning vehicles, and conducting military operations that have killed non-combatants, including children. In September 2025, JNIM cut off the entry of fuel supplies into Mali, blocking and attacking tanker truck convoys from neighboring countries and killing truck drivers, triggering severe shortages that halted transport, disrupted education and electricity, and paralyzed daily life in the capital Bamako.

The prohibition on deliberately killing civilians during armed conflict is codified under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and is considered a jus cogens norm, which is non-derogable in nature.

From JURIST, June 30. Used with permission. Internal links added.