Rights defenders appeal to Sadc

REGIONAL human rights defenders have called on the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to rally its member States to respect constitutional rights in the wake of rising intolerance to dissenting voices.

This came out in a joint communiqué by the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (NGO Forum) following an increase in cases of harassment of rights defenders in Sadc countries.

The rights organisations said Sadc nations — namely Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Angola and Malawi — exhibited higher levels of regression in the protection of human rights defenders throughout last year.

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