Guinea went through its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) under the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council’s UPR Working Group on April 29, 2025. The review looked at the human rights record and progress of Guinea since its previous review in 2020, with Guinea’s delegation represented by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Mr. Yaya Kairaba Kaba.
Following a coup d’etat, military leaders have ruled the Republic of Guinea since September 2021. This was a period of severe political, economic, and health challenges. Clear benchmarks for a successful democratic transition have not been established despite the present government’s subsequent publication of a draft constitution. Over the past year, the Guinean government has also taken a series of actions to strengthen its stance. The transition schedule has slowed down in tandem with this.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commends the Guinean government for its reaffirmed pledges at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum to, among other things, improve the integrity and operation of the asylum system, provide 500 vulnerable refugees with annual access to healthcare, and create legislation protecting stateless people and the process for identifying them. The UNHCR urges the government to expedite the successful execution of these significant pledges.
UK statement on Guinea
“We commend the Guinean delegation for outlining its efforts to preserve human rights”, said Eleanor Sanders, the UK’s ambassador for human rights to the UN, during Guinea’s UPR at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “We also applaud the efforts made to restore constitutional order. President Doumbouya has said that presidential elections must take place before the end of 2025.”
She further stated “In order to ensure that international standards are maintained, Guinea must also move quickly to combat corruption in the public administration and courts.
Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are essential. We want the government to remove the prohibition on major private media and decriminalise nonviolent protest. As a result, journalists, the media, and civil society will have stronger legal protection.”
Main issues and challenges raised during the review
- Implementation gaps in Guinea’s asylum law
The UNHCR has questioned the successful application of Guinea’s asylum system. In 2018, the Guinean National Assembly promulgated Law L/2018/050/AN on Asylum and the Protection of Refugees, which is seen as one of the widest-reaching in West Africa. It defines the governance of refugees and asylum-seekers, and lays out the role of the Permanent Eligibility Committee and the Appeals Committee, as well as guarantees protection measures such as access to biometric identity and travel documents, as well as naturalization.
Although a team of government experts endorsed the implementing texts in June 2021, the UNHCR points out that up to now, no implementing decree has been made public, rendering the law not yet fully operationalized.
- Guinea’s statelessness bill in limbo after 2021 coup
The UNHCR has highlighted the lack of progress made in dealing with statelessness in Guinea. In 2021, the Ministry of Justice drafted the first version of a bill to ensure the protection of stateless individuals and create a formal process for ascertaining statelessness in the Republic of Guinea. But after the military coup of the same year, the draft was tabled before the National Transitional Council for consideration, and there has not been any reported progress since then. The UNHCR highlights the need to enact this legal framework so that the protection of stateless individuals is in accordance with international norms.
Key recommendations to advance protection frameworks in Guinea
The UNHCR has made crucial recommendations to the Government of Guinea to improve the protection of forcibly displaced and stateless people. It calls for the adoption of implementing decrees to the 2018 Asylum Law in order to provide greater protection to refugees and asylum-seekers as well as to make it easier for them to access durable solutions.
Furthermore, UNHCR urges the Government to enact a special bill on the protection of stateless individuals and create an official Statelessness Determination Process, which allows affected individuals to access legal identity and protection mechanisms according to international standards.
