The UN Human Rights Commission has attacked President
Mnangagwa saying he was using Covid-19 to curtail freedom of expression.
In a statement the UN said :”We are concerned at
allegations in Zimbabwe, which suggest that the authorities may be using the
COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and
freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
Among the latest incidents, investigative journalist
Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested on 20 July and charged with inciting public
violence, after he tweeted his support for nationwide protests against
government corruption and worsening economic conditions. Jacob Ngarivhume, an
opposition leader who has been calling for the protests on 31 July, was also
detained and similarly charged.
Merely calling for a peaceful protest or participating in a
peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights.
We are concerned at reports of police using force to
disperse and arrest nurses and health workers for infringing lockdown
restrictions as they were trying to protest for better salaries and conditions
of work.
This pattern of intimidation echoes the events in May when
three members of the main opposition party were arbitrarily arrested and
detained for taking part in a protest.
The women – Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova - alleged
that state agents abducted them from the police station, tortured and sexually
assaulted them. The women were then
formally arrested in June, charged with participating in the protests and
faking their abduction. They were recently released on bail.
It is clear that COVID-19 has added greatly to the
challenges Zimbabwe faces amid a deteriorating economy and placed a further
burden on an already struggling health sector.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa - highlighting an
increase of 600 COVID-19 cases in a week to a total of 1,713 - on Tuesday
announced a series of measures that he said were necessary to curb the spread
of the disease, including a dusk to dawn curfew and the curtailment and
suspension of freedoms that, as he put it, Zimbabweans “have always enjoyed”.
While recognizing the Government’s efforts to contain the
pandemic, it is important to remind the authorities that any lockdown measures
and restrictions should be necessary, proportionate and time-limited, and
enforced humanely without resorting to unnecessary or excessive force.
We encourage the Government to engage with civil society
and other stakeholders to find sustainable solutions to grievances while
ensuring that people’s rights and freedoms are protected in accordance with
Zimbabwe’s human rights obligations.
These include the responsibility of the State to guarantee economic,
social and cultural rights.
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