On 19 October 2023, in collaboration with KUTAKESA and African Defenders, ISHR held an event on the sidelines of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights on restrictive laws affecting human rights defenders in Africa.
On 24 October, ISHR delivered a statement on the situation of human rights in Africa, drawing the attention of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘the African Commission’) to the concerning trend of adopting laws and policies that restrict the rights of defenders in Africa, especially in Angola and Zimbabwe, as well as the need to ensure that existing measures and mechanisms to protect defenders are effective.
Since its last Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Zimbabwe’s human rights situation has greatly deteriorated. The country must urgently implement recommendations on defenders and civic space.
This week, courageous women human rights defenders and feminist activists are gathering in Geneva to demand that their rights be upheld, to share experiences and to demand an urgent response from the UN member States to the growing global trend of pushback and reprisals they experience.
Andrew Makoni, a lawyer in Zimbabwe, works with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to defend freedom of expression and assembly, highlighting challenges as Zimbabwe approached key elections in 2018. Andrew also participated in an ISHR training in 2016.
The third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review should be marked by an increased focus on the participation and protection of human rights defenders and other civil society actors, both in the process itself and through the implementation of recommendations at the national level.
ISHR and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights call on the Zimbabwean Government to improve the situation of human rights defenders and align domestic laws with international human rights instruments and protections guaranteed in the Constitution.
ISHR and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights call on the Zimbabwean Government to improve the situation of human rights defenders and align domestic laws with international human rights instruments and protections guaranteed in the Constitution.
States should encourage Zimbabwe to protect human rights defenders and align domestic laws with international human rights instruments and the protections guaranteed in the Zimbabwe Constitution through its forthcoming UPR.
Angela Mudukuti, lawyer at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, champions corporate accountability for human rights violations in Southern Africa, emphasising litigation and advocacy against entities complicit in crimes against humanity.
