Amnesty International has highlighted how the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has continued to suppress human rights in Zimbabwe.

Development Diaries reports that the Zimbabwean authorities have systematically suppressed peaceful dissent, making it increasingly challenging for people to freely express their opinions.

The report, Human Rights Under Attack: A Review of Zimbabwe’s Human Rights Record in the Period 2018-2023, revealed that there has not been a real shift in the human rights legacy between the Robert Mugabe and the Mnangagwa presidencies.

It is acknowledged that there has been a troubling trend towards the militarisation of policing and an increase in the use of excessive force by law officers during protests.

Furthermore, people who speak out or lead protests frequently experience persecution.

As a means of frightening activists, relatives of demonstrators have occasionally been singled out and mistreated, alongside the abduction of human rights activists.

The government of Mnangagwa has failed to live up to its promises for change, as Zimbabwe has not made sincere attempts to address past injustices in order to prevent repetition of those injustices.

Without the government taking any significant action to defend rights and secure justice for grave previous violations, mostly done by state security forces, the situation for human rights in Zimbabwe has worsened.

Freedom House, in its Freedom in the World 2023 report, ranked Zimbabwe as ‘not free’, with the country scoring 28 out of a possible 100 points.

Development Diaries calls on President Mnangagwa to improve and prioritise human rights in Zimbabwe.

We also call on the government to respect the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), which it ratified in 1991.

Photo source: AP