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Any transition to democracy following the power-sharing agreement in
Zimbabwe will remain fragile unless the political leadership takes
steps to address human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.
Any deal should immediately end ongoing violations and hold to account
those responsible for past abuses.
"Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF must show their commitment to the
power-sharing agreement by bringing about an immediate end to abuses,"
said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "They
should release political prisoners, dismantle torture camps set up
around the elections and disarm ZANU-PF party members and its allies."
Negotiations between Zimbabwe's main political parties -
the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)
and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - have not
brought an end to abuses. In August 2008, police arrested six MDC
parliamentarians on what Human Rights Watch believes are politically
motivated charges. Bednock Nyaude, Shua Mudiwa, Mathias Mlambo, Pearson
Mungofa, Eliah Jembere, and Trevor Saruwaka were arrested in Harare
during the opening of parliament. The parliamentarians were recently
released on bail.
ZANU-PF supporters, government-backed "war veterans" and
"youth militia" continue to terrorize Zimbabweans in rural areas. The
government has failed to dismantle the torture camps that it
established in the immediate aftermath of the March 29, 2008 general
elections. Despite lifting a three-month ban on operations by local and
international humanitarian agencies, the government has tightened its
control over their operations. If they wish to operate in a specific
area, they must first get permission and a memorandum of understanding
from the relevant government ministry. The restrictive government
controls have left the delivery of humanitarian assistance open to
manipulation by government agents and local ZANU-PF officials.
Zimbabwe's long history of impunity for politically
motivated crimes has contributed to the current crisis. Those who
committed past abuses have remained free to carry out further acts of
violence and intimidation. Supporters and officials of ZANU-PF, army
officials, "war veterans," and "youth militia" have been implicated in
the killing of at least 163 people and the beating and torture of more
than 5,000 others over the past four months. Tens of thousands of
Zimbabweans have fled the violence that has plagued the country since
the March 29 elections.
Human Rights Watch called for the establishment of an
independent commission of inquiry to investigate past and present
abuses and for the government to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Government and party officials implicated in abuses should not be
included in any future government, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch called on Zimbabwe's political
leadership to take urgent measures over the next 60 days to address
endemic impunity and strengthen institutional reform to demonstrate
their commitment to real change, including:
Repressive laws
In
the past few years, the government of Zimbabwe has instituted a raft of
repressive laws that violate the rights of Zimbabweans to freedom of
expression, association, and assembly. These include the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Public Order and
Security Act, the Criminal Law (Codification) Act, and the
Miscellaneous Offences Act. Human Rights Watch said that Zimbabwe's
political leadership should take immediate steps to repeal these laws,
and together with nongovernmental human rights organizations institute
a comprehensive process of review of all laws in force, with a view to
the repeal or amendment of those that do not comply with international
human rights standards.
The justice system
Zimbabwe's judiciary and
police force have been severely compromised under the current
government. The police are responsible for widespread violations,
including harassment, threats and violence against opposition
supporters and human rights activists, and torture and other
mistreatment. In the past four months, police have routinely refused to
take action against ZANU-PF supporters and militia implicated in
political violence. Human Rights Watch research over the past eight
years found that public confidence in the judiciary and police -
especially with respect to independence and impartiality - has been
progressively eroded.
Starting in 2000, the government of Zimbabwe began an
onslaught on the judiciary that included physical and verbal attacks
against judges, and bribes to compromise the impartiality, and
undermine the work of, the judiciary. A new government needs to focus
on these and other issues relating to the administration of justice to
help restore respect for human rights and the rule of law - respect
that is essential not only for the rights of Zimbabweans, but also to
promote the external investment that is necessary to bring Zimbabwe out
of its current economic crisis.
Arbitrary arrest and detention
The arrest of six MDC parliamentarians in August reflects a wider problem of arbitrary arrest and detention in Zimbabwe.
Police often arrest opposition activists, journalists and human rights
defenders without evidence, detain them without charge beyond the
48-hour limit, and deny them bail or access to their lawyers or
relatives. These arrests are an ongoing attempt by the current government to intimidate and harass its opponents and critics.
These and other politically motivated cases need to be reviewed
immediately. Those held without charge or who have been charged with
offenses that violate their basic rights should be promptly released.
Persons who have been charged with legally cognizable offenses should
be promptly brought to trial before courts that meet international fair
trial standards.
Problems with the electoral process
Human
Rights Watch documented serious flaws with Zimbabwe's electoral process
during the March 29 elections and the presidential runoff on June 27.These included government-instigated
violence, intimidation and threats against opposition candidates and
party members, lack of judicial independence, restrictions on the
media, lack of independence of the electoral commission and related
personnel, manipulation of government-subsidized food, and concerns
about pre-poll rigging. The political leadership should work with
national and international organizations to address these issues to
ensure that the next elections in Zimbabwe represent a genuinely free
and fair electoral process, Human Rights Watch said.
"The power-sharing agreement should ensure justice for
past and present human rights abuses and correct the systemic failures
of governance in Zimbabwe," Gagnon said. "A political agreement built
on impunity is unlikely to last - and may well serve as an invitation
to more atrocities in the future."
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
"The financial industry aggressively markets DAFs for uncharitable reasons: advantages as tax avoidance vehicles, especially for complex assets; no payout requirements—and secrecy to donors and grantees alike," said one of the report's authors.
A new report released on this year's philanthropic holiday known as Giving Tuesday details how the "profit motives of the financial services sector have increasingly and disastrously warped how charitable giving functions."
The analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies—titled "Gilded Giving 2024: Saving Philanthropy from Wall Street"—shows how donor-advised funds (DAFs) increasingly serve the economic interests of donors and the Wall Street firms that manage the funds, rather than the interests of nonprofit charities.
Rather than donate to a cause directly, wealthy people have the option to donate to foundations or DAFs, which can be sponsored by for-profit wealth management firms like Fidelity Investments or Charles Schwab. Firms like Fidelity Investments, in turn, benefit from being able to offer this type of service to wealthy clients.
"At last count," according to the report's authors, "DAFs and foundations together take in 35 percent of all individual giving in the U.S." If they continue to grow at the rate they have for the past five years, they're expected to take in half of all individual giving in the country by 2028.
Why is this a problem? For one thing, according to the report, some of the money that's intended for donation is scraped up by the DAFs and foundations, meaning that dollars meant for a cause are diverted elsewhere.
"With each passing year, an additional 2 cents of each dollar donated by individuals is funneled into intermediaries and away from working charities. Assuming that their assets will grow at the same rate they have over the past five years, the assets held in DAFs and foundations will eclipse $2 trillion by 2026," according to the report's authors.
What's more, there is no requirement that DAFs disburse their assets, according to the report's authors—meaning there's no guarantee the money is given to charity, and in practice the money in these accounts tends to move slowly, often generating gains instead of being dispersed.
DAFs also facilitate anonymous giving, because donations from them need only be credited to their sponsors, not the original person directing the contribution, according to Inequality.org, a project of IPS.
The report's authors argue that DAFs are part of a wider “wealth defense industry” — tax lawyers, accountants, and wealth managers whose interests are more geared towards helping their clients increase assets, minimize taxes, maximize wealth transfer to descendants, and net some of those assets for themselves in the form of fees, as opposed to supporting charitable causes.
DAFS are used strategically in this way, for example, by giving donors the ability to dispose of noncash assets, according to the report. In practice, this means that DAF donors can give stocks, real estate and other noncash assets directly to DAFS when markets are doing well, meaning they are able to get income tax deductions from their contribution while side stepping paying capital gains tax on appreciation of those assets.
"The financial industry aggressively markets DAFs for uncharitable reasons: advantages as tax avoidance vehicles, especially for complex assets; no payout requirements—and secrecy to donors and grantees alike," said Chuck Collins, co-author of the report and director of the Charity Reform Initiative at IPS.
Other key insights from the study include:
"This rule would be a major win for the privacy rights of Americans and is the kind of bipartisan, commonsense action that should be protected and encouraged by politicians in both parties."
Considering billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's concerns about data privacy, advocates on Tuesday suggested he should welcome the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's newly proposed rule that would stop data brokers from selling people's personal information.
"But they can't do it if you 'delete CFPB,'" grassroots group Demand Progress warned Musk in a post on social media, referring to his remark last week that the bureau is one of the "duplicative regulatory agencies" that he plans to dismantle as the head of a proposed government agency under President-elect Donald Trump.
Demand Progress applauded CFPB Director Rohit Chopra's announcement on Tuesday of a proposed rule that would limit the sale of personal information like Social Security numbers and phone numbers to ensure data brokers don't sell sensitive data to scammers.
Under the rule, the CFPB would clarify that when data brokers sell certain consumer data they are acting as "consumer reporting agencies" as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires them to comply with accuracy requirements and maintain safeguards.
"Until now," said Demand Progress, "data brokers have been able to sell our personal information to the highest bidder—including scammers, blackmailers, and stalkers."
Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director for Demand Progress Education Fund, said the agency "should be applauded for standing up to data brokers and working to rein in the sale of sensitive information about us, which can also end up in the hands of foreign governments."
"This groundbreaking rule offers a needed solution for Americans who are sick and tired of being inundated by scam texts, calls, and emails—often from fraudsters who have been able to buy our data for mere pennies," said Peterson-Cassin. "If finalized, this rule would be a major win for the privacy rights of Americans and is the kind of bipartisan, commonsense action that should be protected and encouraged by politicians in both parties."
Demand Progress was also among the groups that tied the announcement to a recent comment by Musk about a report that data brokers sell data about military personnel to unknown buyers for as little as 12 cents.
Musk called the report "concerning" in a Nov. 17 post on X.
"Good news, Elon!" said the organization, informing him of the proposed rule—before warning that Musk's own plan to gut the CFPB would embolden the very data brokers he expressed concern about.
"Guess which federal agency just proposed a rule cracking down on those data brokers selling the data of U.S. military personnel?" added the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The CFPB said its proposal would also address other "critical threats from current data broker practices," including:
The CFPB introduced the rule after finding that "data brokers routinely sidestep the FCRA by claiming they aren't subject to its requirements."
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who for years has called on the CFPB to address the threats of data brokers, toldThe Washington Post that he has concerns the rule won't go into effect once Trump takes office.
"Unfortunately," said Wyden, "it will be up to Trump's CFPB to finalize this."
Bartlett Naylor, a financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, said the proposed protections would protect Americans from the $250 billion-per-year data sales business.
"All of us leave our financial fingerprints everywhere, every day, between credit card swipes, internet communications, and more. Thieves, loan sharks, stalkers, even foreign espionage agents can exploit gaping holes in credit reporting enforcement that the CFPB is rightly proposing to repair," said Naylor.
"A Republican-led congressional committee investigated this last year, a reminder that this isn't a partisan issue," Naylor added. "No one should side with data predators."
"Elon Musk's commission is a plot to destroy our Social Security by giving it to Wall Street executives—so that you get nothing and they get everything," warned one advocate.
A lengthy series of X posts attacking Social Security as a "nightmare" caught the attention of the platform's mega-billionaire owner, Elon Musk, who could soon take aim at the beloved New Deal program as co-chair of an advisory commission tasked with identifying federal spending to slash.
"Interesting thread," Musk, the world's richest man, wrote late Monday in response to the posts by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who once said he hopes to pull Social Security "up by the roots and get rid of it," along with Medicare and Medicaid.
In his new thread, Lee characterized Social Security—which lifts more Americans above the poverty line than any other federal program—as a "tax plan" insidiously disguised as a retirement plan and condemned the Social Security Act of 1935 as one of many "deceptive sales techniques the U.S. government has used on the American people."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), replied Tuesday that Lee's posts amount to "a misrepresentation of Social Security's history and how the program works."
"There is nothing deceptive about Social Security. The social insurance program has been working just fine for nearly 90 years and has never missed a payment," said Richtman. "The kind of propaganda Sen. Lee posted undermines public support for Social Security, making it easier to cut or privatize the program. It is perhaps no coincidence that Sen. Lee's second-biggest campaign contributor by industry is the securities and investment sector."
"The money is ours, Mike Lee, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump. You're not going to get a penny of it."
Lee also claimed the federal government "routinely raids" the Social Security Trust Fund—a longstanding and misleading right-wing talking point.
Social Security Works (SSW), a progressive advocacy group, said Tuesday that by amplifying Lee's thread to his hundreds of millions of followers, Musk "just declared war on Social Security."
"For 89 years, through war and peace, boom time and bust, health and pandemics, Social Security has never missed a single payment," said Alex Lawson, SSW's executive director. "Compared to the risky alternatives on Wall Street, Social Security is a rock of retirement security. If billionaires like Elon Musk paid into Social Security at the same rate as the rest of us on all of their income, we could expand benefits for everyone and pay them in full forever."
"This is a declaration of war against seniors, people with disabilities, and the American public," Lawson said. "The Republicans are coming for your Social Security, which they call a 'nightmare.' Elon Musk's commission is a plot to destroy our Social Security by giving it to Wall Street executives—so that you get nothing and they get everything."
"We've seen this play again and again," he added. "When Republicans destroyed defined-benefit pension plans, they claimed that the market would be able to create amazing returns for everybody. Instead, workers got pennies, while Wall Street managers got billions. That is always the plan. We will defeat this Republican effort to steal our earned benefits. The money is ours, Mike Lee, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump. You're not going to get a penny of it."
Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, similarly denounced Lee's thread and Musk's promotion of it, saying both "should enrage and concern every single American who has contributed to Social Security."
"Sen. Mike Lee has dreamed about 'phasing out Social Security' and the benefits generations of Americans have earned for more than a decade. His bad ideas have been rightfully ignored but last night he got a big assist from Elon Musk, who amplified Lee's wrongheaded views about Social Security on X."
"Social Security is a solemn promise between the American people and the government," Fiesta continued. "We pay for Social Security's guaranteed benefits with every paycheck and expect them to be there when we retire, lose a spouse or parent, or become disabled. No one voted to phase out Social Security or let Wall Street gamble with their earned benefits. Older Americans will rightly punish any politician who tries to cut their benefits or gut the system that has worked for generations."
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump pledged to defend Social Security while simultaneously pushing proposals that would wreck the program's finances.
Many Republican lawmakers, who are soon to be in the majority in both chambers of Congress, have called for raising the Social Security retirement age—a change that would cut benefits across the board. On Tuesday, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) toldFox Business Network that "we're going to have to have some hard decisions" on Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare—a euphemism for benefit cuts.
Richtman of NCPSSM said that the kind of attack advanced by Lee and other Republicans "conflicts with President Trump's promise not to tamper with Americans' earned benefits."
"It signals where Trump's MAGA allies in Congress are heading—toward privatization and benefit cuts, something the majority of Americans across party lines say they do not want," Richtman added.