The UN and the African Union (AU) have repeatedly warned about the growing use of mercenaries and private military companies (PMCs) in conflict situations. Concerns include the involvement of mercenary groups in transnational organized crime and human rights violations, and the ‘re-routing’ of weapons intended for a state’s military to mercenary groups and PMCs. This re-routing of weapons undermines international and domestic arms control regimes, which are intended to ensure that arms are not used to undermine peace and security, or breach human rights. Since 2021, Mali’s security and political landscape has transformed. After coming to power, the military junta invited the Wagner Group into the country, cut ties with Mali’s former security partners, requested the departure of international forces (from France and the UN peacekeeping mission) and (in 2024) left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In this new landscape, the Wagner Group emerged as the junta’s new ally and was soon actively involved in combat operations against insurgents. The Wagner Group’s tenure in Mali, as widely documented by UN bodies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media, was characterized by serious human rights abuses and war crimes, including massacres, torture and rapes of civilians, and criminal activity, from looting communities to illicit taxation of gold mining sites. For observers of the conflict, such atrocities were not unexpected, as Wagner troops were operating alongside the Malian Armed Forces (Forces Armées Maliennes, FAMa), which have been accused of human rights violations and mismanagement of weapons. However, with the deployment of Wagner troops, violence against civilians increased drastically, beyond the norms set previously by FAMa – civilian casualties per incident doubled between 2021 and 2024. The Wagner Group did not arrive in Mali fully equipped, and troops were expected to source weapons locally, which they did through seizing arms during combat and stealing official stock. This was one of the reasons for communications between Wagner and FAMa troops breaking down. From 2023, joint Wagner/FAMa missions declined, meaning that the Wagner troops operated independently using FAMa-owned equipment. Drawing from an extensive review of open-source material related to Wagner Group operations in Mali and interviews with military sources in Mali and other experts, this paper identifies instances of weapons and equipment intended for use by FAMa being re-routed to Wagner, enabling war crimes and human rights violations. They include FAMa armoured vehicles, vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns (widely known as ‘technicals’) and possibly attack drones – all of which are covered under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Some instances of re-routing weapons from FAMa to the Wagner Group appear to be in breach of commitments under the ATT, which has been signed by Mali, as well as some of the domestic arms control commitments of several weapons-supplying countries. The Wagner Group’s operations in Mali came to an end in June 2025, and the group has been replaced with the Africa Corps, which is more closely controlled by the Russian state but continues to employ a majority of former-Wagner personnel. Therefore, the Wagner Group may have left Mali in name but has not left in practice. Furthermore, Wagner’s operations in Mali are just one example of re-routing state-to-state transfers of weapons to private military actors, which undermines the international legal frameworks that regulate the arms trade. The international community will need to deal with the phenomenon of the growing use of mercenaries and PMCs in global conflicts and their impact on arms control regimes. The paper makes recommendations for improving governance of the sector, which are summarized below: ■ Arms-exporting countries should undertake additional due diligence when considering an export to any country that has engaged with, hired or collaborated with a PMC. ■ Arms manufacturers should also undertake additional due diligence when looking to supply countries that have engaged with PMCs. ■ International forums on arms control and counter-proliferation should address the emerging role of PMCs in global conflicts, and the impact on arms control mechanisms and on reshaping illicit arms markets. ■ The AU should revise the 1977 Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa to include better provisions for monitoring human rights abuses by mercenaries, including those that are backed by a third-party state. ■ International peacekeeping forces should continue to ensure that any equipment left following drawdown is withdrawn or destroyed in line with UN guidelines. After providing a background on the Wagner Group’s tenure in Mali, this paper documents evidence of weapons and equipment intended for use by FAMa being re-routed to Wagner Group operations, enabling war crimes and human rights violations. It then examines the legal implications for exporting countries, arms suppliers and Mali of arms transferred to FAMa being re-routed to Wagner. In so doing, the paper provides a case study that highlights the need for global arms control regimes to grapple with the growing reality of rogue PMCs being embedded within national militaries and the hybridization of PMCs in conflict and organized criminal activity. As the UN Working Group (UNWG) 2024 report indicates, this is a broader issue than just the Wagner Group and their recent tenure in Mali.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. 2025. 36p.

By Anniina Jokinen, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen, Jessiina Rantanen

Forced marriage is a multifaceted phenomenon encompassing sev - eral intersecting factors that relate to situations in which individu - als are compelled to marry or stay married against their will. Forced marriage is widely recognized as a violation of human rights and in particular as a form of gender-based violence and honour-based vio - lence. The harms and negative consequences of forced marriages are multifold and challenge many service providers as well as the crimi - nal justice system. This report outlines the concrete challenges, factors and con - cepts that must be addressed when developing effective responses to tackle forced marriages and providing support to victims and persons affected. It is targeted towards various professionals and practitioners who may encounter victims of forced marriage or persons, families or communities affected by the phenomenon in their line of work. The content is based on a desk review of academic and other relevant liter - ature, as well information collected by the EASY project partners: the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), University of Lleida (Spain), Associació Valentes I Acompanyades (Spain), SOLWODI (Germany), and the Im - migrant Council of Ireland, to identify approaches that have relevance in the development of effective and victim-centred interventions for victims of forced marriages. The best practices were collected mainly via semi-structured (individual or group) interviews with experts and/or survivors, that were based on a shared interview framework. The interviews were conducted in the summer and autumn of 2023.1 The experts interviewed included, e.g., NGO representatives and counsellors working with topics related to forced marriage, migrant women’s rights, honor-based violence and human trafficking, shelter/residential counsellors, government officials and policymakers, and law enforcement authorities from Finland, Germany, Ireland, and Catalonia (Spain). The survivors interviewed included, e.g., victim-survivors who work as mentors and/or had been supported by the interviewing organisation. Throughout the report there are quotes from the interviews to demonstrate the challenges, experiences and solutions identified. Table 1. Number of persons interviewed to collect best practices by each country and in total. The best practices collected were also shared and discussed with partners in a best practice workshop hosted by SOLWODI in Bonn, Germany on 20–21 November 2023. Each partner identified 4–8 best practices with a focus on themes such as proactive methods to identify victims, engaging with persons from impacted communities and reducing the risk of forced marriage; ways to support and assist victims; training and awareness-raising activities targeting professionals; multi-agency collaboration at local, national and international levels; and municipal, regional or national strategies to tackle or address honor-related violence and/or forced marriages. Ten of the collected best practices were selected and summarised for this publication. Moreover, in early 2024, the EASY project partners launched a legislative overview which presents the results of comparative desk research on the legal approach to forced marriage in Germany, Finland, Ireland and Spain (Villacampa and Salat 2023). Therefore, this report does not cover legislative frameworks and procedures in place in the four countries to address forced marriages and to protect the victims as they are covered in detail in the legislative overview. The two reports are complimentary. The ultimate aim of the EASY project is to enhance support for victims/survivors of forced marriage and strengthen the work against forced marriage in the four partner countries.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI) HEUNI, 2024. 58p.

By Amnesty International

Enforced disappearance is both a crime under international law and a serious human rights violation. When a person is deprived of their liberty and their fate or whereabouts concealed, the lives of their families, loved ones and communities are put on hold while they wait to learn of what has happened to them and where they are. In Colombia, as in other countries in the Americas, many of the people left waiting or searching for their loved ones after an enforced disappearance have turned uncertainty into a force for change. Firstly, to find the victims of enforced disappearance. Second, to demand truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. Third, to continue the struggle to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of other people’s loved ones and to defend human rights. Women play a leading role in this story. They are the ones who have overwhelmingly taken on the task of searching for the victims of enforced disappearance in Colombia. In doing so, not only have they raised their voices against the injustice of the enforced disappearance imposed on them, but they have also acted as searchers and human rights defenders. In Colombia, taking on these roles means exposing themselves to unacceptable risks, threats and attacks. Whether they are searching for a loved one, helping someone else to search for a loved one, or defending the rights of victims of enforced disappearance and their families, women who search face arbitrariness, impunity and violence, sometimes from the state and sometimes from non-state actors, especially state security forces and armed opposition groups. In most cases, this violence is gendered. The nature of the risks, threats and attacks that women searchers face often intersect with their gender. Among other forms of violence against women, threats relate to their bodies or to their assigned or assumed gender roles, and perpetrators disproportionately use sexual violence against women. However, women searchers not only continue their work, but also put forward proposals for action to ensure that the state respects, guarantees and protects their rights. The most recent manifestation of this driving force is the approval of Law 2364 of 2024, a proposal that emerged from a group of organizations and communities of women searchers who spoke of their own life experiences, analysed them and used them to draft a bill designed to urge the state to take appropriate measures to end this scourge. With this report, Amnesty International begins a process of documenting the situation of risks, threats and attacks faced by women searchers in Colombia and, based on this, a process of monitoring the implementation of Law 2364 of 2024, which will continue over the next few years. This first part documents the story of Yanette Bautista, Andrea Torres and the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (FNEB), an organization of women searchers and victims of enforced disappearance that accompanies other organizations and communities in their own cases.

London: Amnesty International, 2024. 64p.