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Reforming Zimbabwe’s Security Sector Ahead of Elections Human Rights Watch 5 June 2013 Zimbabwe’s unity government, consisting of the former ruling Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU-PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions, has failed to reform the state security forces despite their continued interference in the nation’s political and electoral affairs ahead [...]

Freedom House 3 June 2013 Overview Halting progress toward a new constitution continued in 2012, and the final draft was expected to reduce the power of the presidency and clear the way for elections in 2013. Low-level political violence persisted, as did the harassment of civic activists and journalists by both state and nonstate actors. [...]

Reporters Without Borders 25 May 2013 The new Zimbabwean constitution that President Robert Mugabe promulgated three days ago guarantees more democracy and freedom of expression, on paper at least, and Reporters Without Borders hopes that it will reduce the negative effect of the draconian laws currently in effect. As a result of Zimbabwe’s repressive legislation, [...]

International Crisis Group 6 May 2013 The pervasive fear of violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections contradicts political leaders’ rhetorical commitments to peace, and raises concerns that the country may not be ready to go to the polls. Zimbabwe: Election Scenarios, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, reviews developments in what remains [...]

United States Department of State 19 April 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Zimbabwe is constitutionally a republic, but its fragile unity government was not freely elected and has been dominated by President Robert Mugabe, his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and its authoritarian security sector since independence in 1980. Presidential and parliamentary elections held in 2008 [...]

United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office 15 April 2013 Highlights of report: elections must take place in Zimbabwe before the end of October 2013. This is likely to prompt a deterioration of the human rights situation. There are already signs of an increase in low-level intimidation and violence towards political opponents in the build-up to [...]

Amnesty International 20 March 2013 Prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa must be immediately and unconditionally released, Amnesty International said after she was denied bail in a court appearance today. Mtetwa was arrested on Sunday, the day after a constitutional referendum was held in the country, when she responded to a client whose home was [...]

Human Rights Watch 19 March 2013 SADC Should Press for ‘Democratic Space’ Ahead of Elections (Johannesburg) – The government of Zimbabwe should immediately end the police crackdown on civil society groups, which has intensified as the country prepares for national elections. A referendum on March 16, 2013, for a new constitution under the Global Political [...]

18 March 2013 Freedom House Freedom House decries the arrest of prominent Zimbabwean human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa and four senior opposition leaders on Sunday, one day after a largely peaceful referendum on a draft constitution, and calls for their release. The referendum, which followed a marathon three-year effort to draft a new constitution, is [...]

Richard Lee, OSISA 19 February 2013 There is a reason why the decision by the European Union to ease its sanctions on some influential Zimbabweans was not met with universal approval. It is that many people do not believe that a leopard can change its spots – or to put it another way – that [...]