Once upon a time there was an African country that after several years of instability seemed to be moving shakily towards reform and democracy. Its ageing despotic president had signed a power-sharing deal with the opposition that created a unity government that would precipitate a new constitution and elections.
Sounds rather like Zimbabwe, doesn’t it? But [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘human rights’
August 17, 2009
Zimbabwe heading towards a Rwandan genocide
August 3, 2009
South Africa exporting oppression with dodgy arms sales
South Africa’s National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) has approved the sale of South African-made weapons to Syria, Libya and Venezuela — three countries with appalling human rights records, the first two vicious dictatorships, the third a sham democracy that stands accused of arming FARC — a Colombian terrorist network.
But that’s not all. Currently waiting [...]
June 28, 2009
Massacres, forced labour haunt Zimbabwe diamond fields
Military control over diamond mining in Zimbabwe’s eastern Marange district has resulted in a brutal mix of massacres, forced labour, beatings and rape.
This is according to a comprehensive report released last week by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based rights NGO, which interviewed over 100 people in the region in February 2009.
Mining in Marange [...]
March 31, 2009
Special Assignment to expose Zim prison horrors
Tonight at 9.30 pm on SABC3’s investigative journalism programme Special Assignment, there will be an expose on the horrors of Zimbabwe’s prisons. Below are some details from Special Assignment’s website (thanks This is Zimbabwe):
This Tuesday Special Assignment takes you into Zimbabwe’s prisons – which have become virtual death traps for prisoners.
This exclusive, never before been [...]
March 21, 2009
When your views can kill you
In some countries, voicing your opinion can kill you. According to Global Voices Online:
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda [...]
January 14, 2009
Two-year-old kid tortured in notorious Zim prison
There are no limits to the brutality that Zimbabwe’s Zanu PF government is prepared to employ in ensuring its continued grip on power. Recently, human rights activists and opposition supporters were abducted and thrown into the notorious Chikurubi Prison.
Here they have been subjected to torture and beating. Very little food has been provided. They [...]
December 16, 2008
Bloggers constitute bulk of jailed journos
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group aimed at defending the rights of journalists, most journalists in jail are those using the web as their medium of choice — like bloggers, online reporters and web editors (thanks, Gino). A statement released on the CPJ’s website says the following:
There are 125 journalists in [...]
September 29, 2008
Social networking for change: Amnesty goes Web 2.0
Amnesty International has just launched Protectthehuman.com, an activism social networking site that aims to spread awareness about human rights issues and Amnesty’s various campaigns.
It describes itself as the following:
Protectthehuman.com is Amnesty’s new online home – a site for everyone who cares about human rights.Every registered member counts as an extra voice for Amnesty and adds [...]
July 6, 2008
UK to kick desperate Zim asylum-seekers out
The UK’s Home Office is forcing thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers home according to this article in the Mail & Guardian.
This stinks of hypocrisy — and doesn’t make sense in the light of the UK’s foreign policy which clearly acknowledges the despotic brutality of the Zanu PF dictatorship. Being prepared to send desperate asylum seekers [...]
June 24, 2008
Zimbabwe: sign the Avaaz petition
Human rights advocacy group Avaaz.org is petitioning Southern African leaders to call a summit that will broker a solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis that respects the democractic will of the Zimbabwean people. The advert below will be placed by the organisation in major Southern African newspapers. To add your voice to the message, sign the Avaaz [...]
