• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

United Nations Says Zimbabwe Using COVID-19 to Clamp Down on Freedom of Media And Assembly

by DC Editors - July 24, 2020

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin
United Nations Says Zimbabwe Using COVID-19 to Clamp Down on Freedom of Media And Assembly
President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa – Image source

From VOA:

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights says it is concerned that the Zimbabwean government may be using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

In a statement, the UN High Commission for Human Rights said, “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.”

It said 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.”

The United States and several other countries have expressed similar sentiments, saying the Zimbabwean government should stop intimidating journalists and political opponents.

In a tweet, Tibo Nagy, Assistant Secretary for U.S Department of State’s Bereau of African Affairs, said, “The Zimbabwean government has denied Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume their freedom while the corrupt remain free. When will the government uphold the people’s constitutional rights to freedom of political expression and freedom of the press?”

In Harare, a local magistrate has finished hearing the bail application for Hopewell Chin’ono and has indicated that he will hand down his ruling later today or tomorrow.

Ngarivhume, who is organizing the July 31 anti-corruption protest, was denied bail yesterday with the state claiming that he will interfere with witnesses.

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: International Democracy Tagged With: Africa, Zimbabwe

About DC Editors

We are your source for news on the all important effort to establish and strengthen democracy across the globe. Our international team with dozens of independent authors are your gateway into the raging struggle for free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States. See our Facebook Page and also follow us on Twitter @demchron.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | ALL NEWS | WORLD | United Nations Says Zimbabwe Using COVID-19 to Clamp Down on Freedom of Media And Assembly

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

Harnessing The Power Of “We The People” On Independence Day

By Jenna Spinelle July 3, 2022

Democracy does not have a singular definition, which is one of the things that makes it so interesting to me — and undoubtedly to many of you.

Florida Doesn’t Need a Speech Czar

By Steve Schneider June 28, 2022

Full disclosure: I’m a liberal Democrat. So, I won’t be sending in my vote-by-mail ballot for Ron DeSantis in November. Nor will I vote for him in 2024.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

Introducing: When The People Decide

By Jenna Spinelle June 25, 2022

Several activists and average citizens have changed their communities and the country by taking important issues directly to votes.

Democracy’s Summer Blockbusters

By Jenna Spinelle June 8, 2022

The summer will be legally and politically charged particularly with the January 6 committee hearings scheduled to begin June 9.

Can American Democracy Have Nice Things?

By Jenna Spinelle June 7, 2022

Universal voting would be the surest way to protect against voter suppression and the active disenfranchisement of a large share of our citizens.

PODCAST: Baby Boomers And American Gerontocracy

By Jenna Spinelle May 23, 2022

Older and younger voters are increasingly at odds: Republicans as a whole skew gray-haired, and within the Democratis, the left-leaning youth vote.

A Dangerous Reprise Of American Exceptionalism In Ukraine

By Jamie Lampidis May 15, 2022

The stakes are too high to cave into Putin’s phantasmatic imperial play, and too high to believe that this war can be won by arming Ukrainians.

On The Coming End Of Roe v. Wade

By Peter J. Dellolio May 11, 2022

Anyone who says that the evolution of law has nothing to do with politics is either very corrupt or very stupid. Laws evolved through the centuries.

Goodbye Roe v. Wade, Goodbye Rule Of Law

By Andrew Straw May 5, 2022

Congress should impeach judges who act like that because it is not good behavior, and they were asked not to act that way when they were confirmed.

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

Magnum Photographers Challenged To Picture Swiss Democracy

Magnum Photographers Challenged To Picture Swiss Democracy

July 6, 2022

Magnum photographers accustomed to exploring crisis regions have been challenged to capture the quiet operation of Swiss democracy.

India: Why Are Punjab Political Singers Under Attack?

India: Why Are Punjab Political Singers Under Attack?

June 8, 2022

The murder of Sidhu Moose Wala has brought attention to the link between Punjabi music and India’s cross-border criminal networks.

University Educated Less Likely To Endorse Authoritarianism

University Educated Less Likely To Endorse Authoritarianism

June 4, 2022

Higher education is now seen as a new political cleavage, with level of education increasingly important in describing political attitudes.

From Cake To Volunteers, Welcome To Australia’s Democracy Day

From Cake To Volunteers, Welcome To Australia’s Democracy Day

May 25, 2022

The atmosphere in the interstate polling booth in Sydney’s inner east resembled that of an emergency room waiting for a donor organ.

Kenyan 'Cartooning For Peace' To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

Kenyan ‘Cartooning For Peace’ To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

May 17, 2022

Cartooning is an art that has been playing a major role in illustrating stories in different ways, from health to politics, and even sports.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy