Philip Obaji

About

Philip Obaji has documented over 100 human rights abuses and exploitation by Russian paramilitaries deployed in West and Central Africa. He has investigated and reported gut-wrenching massacres, rape, torture and oppression of vulnerable villagers by mercenaries from the Wagner Group and its successor, the Africa Corps, in the Central African Republic (CAR) and in Mali, despite threats in an incredibly risky context including being held hostage by CAR rebels and detained by CAR soldiers who tortured him on the orders of Russian paramilitaries. He has also spent the last decade uncovering trafficking of refugees in West and Central Africa and rightly portraying it as an overlooked consequence of war. Obaji has received several recognitions for his work, including winning the 2022 Jaime Brunet International Human Rights Prize and the 2023 One World Media International Journalist of the Year award, becoming the first Nigerian to receive both honors in the process.