The Tuareg rebellion, Islamist occupation of the north, and political upheaval generated by a March military coup led to a drastic deterioration in respect for human rights in Mali. The insecurity led to the displacement of some 400,000 northern residents. The worsening human rights, security, and humanitarian situation country-wide generated considerable attention from the international community.

Several armed groups—which began operations in January 2012 and by April had consolidated control of the northern regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu— committed often-widespread abuses against civilians. These included sexual abuse, looting and pillage, summary executions, child soldier recruitment, and amputations and other inhumane treatment associated with the application of Islamic law. Islamist groups destroyed numerous Muslim shrines and at least one Dogon cultural site. In January, rebel groups allegedly summarily executed at least 70 Malian soldiers in the town of Aguelhoc.

Malian soldiers arbitrarily detained and in many cases tortured and summarily executed alleged rebel collaborators and members of rival military units. There was no meaningful effort to investigate, much less hold accountable, members of the security forces implicated in these incidents.

Fears that the occupation of the north by Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda would destabilize West Africa and threaten international security led to considerable diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis as well as a plan supported by the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), African Union, United Nations, European Union, France, and the United States to militarily oust the Islamist groups from the north. While most of these actors widely criticized abuses by groups in the north, there was inadequate consideration of the potential for abuse by Malian security forces and pro-government militias, or the issues, including endemic corruption and ethnic tension, that had given rise to the crisis.

Political and Military Instability

On March 22, 2012, junior military officers led by Capt. Amadou Sanogo launched a coup against then-President Amadou Toumani Touré in protest of what they viewed as the government's inadequate response to the rebellion of the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which began in January. The MNLA and Islamist armed groups swiftly occupied the north as they took advantage of the chaos created by the coup.