Civil liberties in
Swaziland have deteriorated in the past year, a leading global freedom group
has reported.
Freedom
House reported, ‘Swaziland’s
civil liberties rating declined from five to six due to increased government
infringements on religious freedom and freedom of private discussion.’
The organisation said this
in the Freedom in the World 2018 report just released. On a scale from one to
seven where seven is the least free, Swaziland scored 6.5 on freedom; seven on
political rights and six on civil liberties. It scored 16 out of 100 in total
and Freedom House reported Swaziland was ‘not free’.
It has yet to release a
detailed report on human rights in Swaziland for the past year. Swaziland is
ruled by King Mswati III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
Freedom House is not the
only organisation to issue annual reports on freedom in Swaziland. The United
States State
Department in its most recent report
published in 2017 and covering 2016 stated, ‘The principal human rights
concerns are that citizens do not have the ability to choose their government
in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot; police use of
excessive force, including torture, beatings, and unlawful killings;
restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and association; and discrimination
against and abuse of women and children.
‘Other human rights
problems included arbitrary killings; arbitrary arrests and lengthy pretrial
detention; arbitrary interference with privacy and home; prohibitions on
political activity and harassment of political activists; trafficking in
persons; societal discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and intersex community and persons with albinism; mob violence;
harassment of labor leaders; child labor; and restrictions on worker rights.’
Human
Rights Watch in its report on events in Swaziland in 2016
stated Swaziland, ‘continued to repress political dissent and disregard human
rights and rule of law principles in 2016. Political parties remained banned,
as they have been since 1973; the independence of the judiciary is severely
compromised, and repressive laws continued to be used to target critics of the
government and the king despite the 2005 Swaziland Constitution guaranteeing
basic rights.’
In May 2017 the global charity Oxfam named Swaziland
as the most unequal country in the world. The report called
Starting With People, a human economy approach to inclusive growth in Africa
detailed the differences in countries between the top most earners and those at
the bottom.
See also
UN
PROBES SWAZILAND ON HUMAN RIGHTS
SWAZILAND FAILS HUMAN RIGHTS TEST
SWAZILAND
QUIZZED ON TERROR LAW
SWAZI
HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD KILLS AGOA
SWAZI
TERROR LAW COURT CHALLENGE
SWAZI
GOVT FAILS ON POVERTY: OXFAM
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/swazi-govt-fails-on-poverty-oxfam.html
No comments:
Post a Comment