Maverick Citizen Southern Africa: Human Rights Locked Down – southern Africa human rights roundup By Arnold Tsunga, Tatenda Mazarura and Mark Heywood
By telling and reflecting on these stories, we hope to contribute towards integrating the efforts of human rights defenders across the southern African region. It is also intended to inform the policy community of the main threats confronting human rights defenders.The main issue is obviously the Covid-19 lockdown measures and their impact on human rights.
On 9 April, the Botswana Parliament endorsed the president’s 21-day declaration of a state of emergency and extended it to six months. This gives President Mokgweetsi Masisi significant power to make decisions with minimum parliamentary oversight.
In all countries, there have been reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions. This comes at a time when courts are not fully functional and exercising effective oversight over the police or the executive. As a result, on 8 April 2020, prominent Namibian human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe invited members of the public who fall victim to abuse to seek free legal services to sue the police for compensation in civil proceedings.Another major concern has been the incompatibility between the lockdown requirements and extreme poverty.
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