Zimbabwe
Friday 30.12.2022 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
CSOs & Opposition bear the brunt of intensified crackdown on Association & Assembly
As Zimbabwe gears up for general elections in July 2023, civic space is under severe attack as incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, who has been in power since a November 2017 military intervention, and a subsequent disputed 2018 election, seeks to defend his presidency.
Numerous cases have been reported about increasing restrictions targeting civil society ahead of the elections. Restrictive amendments to CSO law, public vilification of CSOs and foreign diplomatic missions, raids on CSO activities and suspension of CSO registration have become commonplace. Pro-democracy activists and members of opposition political parties have also come under increasing repression with arbitrary restrictions to the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
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Wednesday 11.5.2022 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Proposed law threatens CSO space, opposition faces brutal repression ahead of elections
Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill Poses Serious Threats to Human Rights and Civic Space; President Mnangagwa Issues Stern Warning to Civil Society Actors; Police arrest Opposition Political Party Members for Election Campaigning; Popular CCC Supporter Arrested for ‘Improper Dressing’; Judiciary Overturns Several CCC political rally bans; Teachers Strike over Wage Increase; Opposition Political Party Rally attacked; Zimbabwe National Students Union Protest over Fee Hikes ; Trial of Clapaton Redi begins over insult charges Read more
Friday 21.1.2022 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Pro-democracy activist Makomborero Haruzivishe released on bail after months in detention
Marange residents arrested for peaceful protests; Trial of pro-democracy activists begin; Freedom fighters arrested for demanding increased pension earnings; Activist freed after two months in prison; Continued imprisonment of pro-democracy activist raises concern; Police officer arrested for free speech Read more
Monday 7.6.2021 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
CSOs condemn threat to independence of the judiciary
The state of judicial independence in Zimbabwe came under enormous public and international scrutiny following the parliamentary and presidential elections in July 2018. The stakes were at an unprecedented high, as the notion of democracy had taken reign in the electorate after 37 years. The highly politicized environment apparent in the country meant an intense need for Electoral Court and Constitutional Court judges to acquit themselves with an exemplary level of independence and transparency. Any perception by the citizenry that the judiciary was pressured by the executive branch or was biased toward any contesting parliamentary candidate could result in spontaneous unrest, potentially capable of destabilising the country. Read more
Monday 22.3.2021 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Prominent journalist Chin’ono arrested and charged for tweet
journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, MDC alliance spokesperson, arrested and charged for “communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the state; Read more
Friday 30.10.2020 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Government adopts strategic measures to thwart protests by doctors
Amid escalating strikes and protests by health workers in the country in recent months, the government adopted controversial new measures which were seen by many as an attempt to muzzle the right to unionise Read more
Monday 24.8.2020 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Economic decline, crackdown on rights; Zimbabweans hanker for change through protests
Workers and civil servants sustain protest actions to call for better wages to cushion them from economic shocks; Hopewell Chin’ono, a prominent Zimbabwean journalist known for exposing government corruption arrested and charged; Read more
Thursday 21.11.2019 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Groups strike, protest, amid deteriorating economic conditions
Doctors in public hospitals down their tools as they go on strike to demand increased salaries, civil servants protest in Harare demanding salary increments amidst tough economic conditions, opposition group MDC's supporters violently dispersed in planned protest against deteriorating economic conditions Read more
Wednesday 3.7.2019 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Government intensifies crackdown following January 2019 protests
The government has intensified arrests of activists and opposition leaders accused of having being part of the January 2019 protests. Doctors and lawyers who assisted protesters threatened. Journalists harassed and threatened while covering a story at Harae hospital, activists arrested and detained while returning to the country at the airport
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Wednesday 16.1.2019 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Internet shutdown as security forces crackdown on protests: Protesters and citizens killed
protesters killed, internet shutdown as security forces violently disperse demonstrations against sharp fuel price hike Read more
