Human rights in Gabon

Gabonese Republic République gabonaise (French)
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ISO 3166 code	GA

Gabon, also known as the Gabonese Republic is a sovereign state located in Central Africa along the Atlantic coastline. Gabon gained its independence from France in 1960. Human rights are rights that are inherent and universal to all human beings.^[1] Typical human rights include, freedom of speech, freedom of slavery, freedom of fair representation, a right to adequate living standards and exclusion of child labour. These human rights and more are included in the Declaration of Human Rights legislated by the United Nations of which the Gabonese Republic is a party. Gabon has signed multiple conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations Convention against Torture, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, all of which are binding to them.^[2] However, despite Gabon having ratified many of these human rights conventions and laws within their own sovereign state there are still ongoing human right issues such as human trafficking, child trafficking, lack of political freedom and poverty.^[3] Political freedom is an essential human right in all societies and nations as it helps to protect democratic systems. The Gabonese governments have drawn criticism from multiple non-governmental organizations such as Freedom House^[4] and foreign governing bodies, especially the United States Department,^[3] for the lack of transparency of their political systems.