Government Refutes Amnesty Report Detailing Crackdown On Human Rights
The Patriotic Front government has refuted a report by Amnesty International which accuses President Lungu’s regime of instigating an “increasingly brutal crackdown on human rights”, characterised by restrictions on freedom of expression and the excessive use of violence by police.
In a statement, the government has claimed that “a vibrant civil society exists in Zambia, alongside a thriving independent media and an impartial judiciary”. It adds that the people of Zambia “are free to criticise public officials while opposition parties are allowed to conduct public meetings in accordance with the law”.
The claims directly contradict the findings of Amnesty’s report, entitled ‘Ruling by fear and repression, which concludes that Zambia’s human rights situation “has drastically deteriorated under Lungu’s presidency”.
The report documents increasing levels of censorship against independent media sources, including the closure of The Post newspaper in 2016 and the revocation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence in 2020. It describes these incidents as part of a “systematic erosion to the right to freedom of expression”.
The report also cites worrying levels of violence being directed towards opposition leaders and their supporters. It highlights the brutal scenes outside Police HQ on 22 December 2020, when citizens who had gathered to support UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema were shot at by police. The attack resulted in the deaths of two civilians: Joseph Kaunda, a UPND supporter, and Nsama Nsama, a state prosecutor, who was not even part of the protests and was buying a meal at a nearby restaurant.
In response to accusations of censorship and political violence, the government says these claims are “out of context and should be disregarded”. The government says it respects human rights and “does everything within the confines of the law”. It adds that it is committed to holding free and fair elections on 12 August.
The report from Amnesty International is far from an isolated document and forms part of a dossier of warnings about the integrity of August’s elections. Last week, the Christian Churches Monitoring Group warned that police were disproportionately disrupting campaign events hosted by the UPND compared to other political parties, with officers far more likely to open fire against supporters of the opposition than against government cadres.
Prior to that, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had called on the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to stop harassing Muvi TV and to ensure the independence of media ahead of August’s elections. The CPJ alleged that the IBA’s threat to revoke Muvi’s broadcasting licence was tantamount to state censorship.
Following the report by Amnesty, many international observers now fear that President Lungu’s government will continue using such oppressive tactics to ensure his victory at the upcoming elections.