GENEVA - UN human rights experts* today expressed grave concern over the alleged abduction and enforced disappearance of three children and an adult in Conakry, Guinea, half a year ago, in what appears to be a targeted act of reprisal against a prominent Government critic.
"The abduction and subsequent enforced disappearance of children as a means of punishing or pressuring a parent or relative is an act of exceptional cruelty," the experts said.
"Using children as leverage and causing them irreparable harm constitutes an egregious violation affecting the children, their family and the wider community."
On 11 November 2025, masked men believed to be members of the Guinean gendarmerie forcibly entered a private residence in the Matoto market area of Conakry in the early hours. The men reportedly assaulted and abducted the children, aged 14 to 16 years old, while they were asleep, together with an adult family member, before taking them away in official-looking vehicles to an unknown location.
The operation reportedly appeared carefully planned and targeted. The alleged perpetrators are said to have confirmed the identity of the household before carrying out the abduction, suggesting that the children were taken specifically because of their family ties to a well-known Guinean artist and human rights advocate, Elie Kamano, who has publicly criticised the country's authorities and now lives in exile following threats to his safety.
Since the incident, the families concerned have reportedly received no official information regarding the fate or whereabouts of the children and their relative. Requests for clarification addressed to the authorities and the international community have gone unanswered.
The experts urged Guinean authorities to immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of the three children and their relative, ensure their safety and well being, and release them without delay. They also called for a prompt, independent, impartial, thorough and effective investigations into the alleged abductions and subsequent enforced disappearances, with a view to holding those responsible to account and provide reparations for the harm caused.
"Subjecting families to anguish and uncertainty, particularly when children are involved, is inhumane," the experts said. "Weaponising fear against families and children to crush dissent constitutes an especially egregious form of abuse that no State can justify," they said.
The experts stressed that reprisals against family members of critics, dissidents or human rights defenders violate fundamental principles of the rule of law and may amount to collective punishment, which is strictly prohibited under international law.
