On the eve of International Human Rights Day 2025, a broad alliance of African and international civil society groups has issued a scathing condemnation of what they describe as intensifying repression within Senegal’s water sector, shining a spotlight on a campaign of intimidation targeting a prominent trade union leader.
The crisis centred on the actions of the Senegalese water company, SEN’EAU, whose management is being accused of violating fundamental trade union freedoms and basic human rights.
The Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition (OWORAC), alongside Public Services International (PSI) and Corporate Accountability, announced their full solidarity with Comrade Oumar BA, General Secretary of the Autonomous Union of Water Workers of Senegal (SATES), who recently began a hunger strike to protest years of harassment.
The coalition called on SEN’EAU and Senegalese authorities to immediately cease all punitive measures against Comrade BA, respect lawful worker representation, and adhere to internationally recognised labour standards.
Comrade BA’s latest ordeal stemmed from his refusal to assent to what his union views as administrative manipulation designed to sideline their voice.
The union leader questioned SEN’EAU’s move to negotiate a multi-year agreement with representatives of three other unions while intentionally excluding SATES, an affiliate of PSI and a key member of the OWORAC coalition.
SATES is currently contesting in court the legitimacy of a digital voting process used to elect trade union representatives, a process workers claim violates Senegalese labour laws and lacks transparency.
For his refusal to allegedly rubber-stamp these procedural irregularities, Comrade BA is said to be facing what the coalition describes as illegitimate sanctions.
“SEN’EAU’s actions are a direct violation of fundamental trade union freedoms and basic human rights,” the coalition stated, drawing a direct link between the attack on worker rights and the core theme of International Human Rights Day 2025: Human Rights: Our Everyday Essentials.
The groups noted that few essentials are more fundamental than water, and the rights of those who manage it should not deteriorate due to private interests.
“A day dedicated to everyday essentials cannot be meaningfully observed where workers are punished for exercising the very rights the day is meant to honour,” the groups stated
The crisis, according to the coalition, is exacerbated by the ownership structure of the utility, adding that SEN’EAU is effectively controlled by the French private water multinational giant, Suez.
This corporate control, the groups argued, exposed how fragile democratic and worker rights become when private interests are allowed to govern public goods.
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