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Zambia: Workers Detail Abuse in Chinese-Owned Mines

Enforce Health, Safety, and Labor Laws in Copper Mining Industry

(Lusaka) – Chinese-run copper mining companies in Zambia routinely flout labor laws and regulations designed to protect workers’ safety and the right to organize, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Zambia’s newly elected president,…
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Health and human rights of women imprisoned in Zambia

Abstract Background The healthcare needs and general experience of women in detention in sub-Saharan Africa are rarely studied and poorly understood. Methods A mixed-methods study was conducted including in-depth interviews with 38 adult female…
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Zambia: Civil Society Groups Urge Arrest of al-Bashir

ICC Member States Obliged to Arrest Fugitives on Their Territories

(Johannesburg, December 13, 2010) - The Zambian government should make clear that President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan will be arrested if he travels to Zambia, African civil society organizations and international organizations with a presence in Africa…
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Global: Flawed Policies Expose Migrants to Abuse

2010 Marked by Labor Exploitation, Violence, and Limited Access to Justice

(Jakarta) - Many governments' immigration policies and protection gaps expose migrants to abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report today in advance of International Migrants Day, December 18, 2010. The abuses include labor exploitation, violence,…
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World AIDS Day: prevention, treatment for prisoners

Today is World AIDS Day, and the theme this year is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights.’ Zambia is ahead of much of the world on the first half of this theme: In August 2005 the Ministry of Health pledged to provide free antiretroviral medicine to all who…
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Zambia: Police Brutality, Torture Rife

Government Should Investigate and Hold Perpetrators Accountable

(New York) - The Zambian police routinely engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including torture, to extract confessions, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should investigate, discipline those found to be implicated, and train…
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The HIV and TB Prison Crisis in Southern Africa

In 1988, while Nelson Mandela was in prison, he contracted tuberculosis (TB). TB is common in prisons, with overcrowded cells and poor ventilation facilitating transmission. Mandela is now long free, but TB remains a threat to all prisoners - and to all…
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HIV Behind Bars

International AIDS Conferences — like the one planned for next week in Vienna — can be strange affairs. On the one hand, there is a reason to celebrate: Scaled up treatment campaigns have prolonged millions of lives; HIV testing and education are reaching…
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Zambia: Intolerance Threatens Health, Rights

Government Leaders Should Condemn Homophobic Statements

(New York) - Recent homophobic statements by religious leaders and government authorities risk undermining Zambia's fight against HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Zambian leaders on May 17, 2010. Human Rights Watch called on government…
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Good Prisoner Health is Good Public Health

Zambia's policy of free universal HIV treatment and wide availability of tuberculosis drugs show an impressive commitment to public health. But an important group has been left out in Zambia's fight against these diseases-prisoners. Prisoner health is…
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Zambia's TB-ridden prisons

Multi-drug-resistant TB is being incubated in Zambia's prisons, amid conditions that violate international human rights law

Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that human rights begin in "small places"- places not found on any map. Choma prison, about 300km from Zambia's capital of Lusaka, may be on the map, but it is not easy to find. Once found, it's harder still to find respect…
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Unjust and Unhealthy

Unjust and Unhealthy HIV, TB, and Abuse in Zambian Prisons Map of Zambian Prisons Visited Fact Sheet Table 1: Basic Statistics for Prisons Visited Table 2: Access to Justice for Prisoners Interviewed Summary Key Recommendations Methodology Table 3:…
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Zambia: Prison Conditions Endanger Inmates

Criminal Justice Failures, Overcrowding, and Poor Care Exacerbate Spread of TB, HIV

(Lusaka) - Prisoners in Zambia suffer malnutrition, overcrowding, grossly inadequate medical care, and the risk of rape or torture, the Prisons Care and Counselling Association (PRISCCA), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), and Human…
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SADC: Press Zimbabwe to Implement Rights Reforms

Southern African Leaders Should Urge End to Politically Motivated Abuses

(Johannesburg) - Southern African leaders should press Zimbabwe's power-sharing government to end ongoing human rights violations and to implement legal reforms, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Heads of state from members of the…
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AU Should Stand with Victims, Not Abusers

Respect for the rule of law is one of the founding principles of the African Union (AU). It should therefore come as no surprise that African states make up the largest regional membership bloc of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose mission is…
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Women's Land Rights Can Help Battle Hunger in Africa

I pass a poster on my way to work in London every morning that never fails to surprise me. It's large, colorful, and cheerfully exhorts us to throw away less food. Apparently, even in the current economic climate, we waste so much food every year that we…
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Zambia: Curbing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

The news of the opening of a hospital-based crisis center in Kabwe, Zambia, to address the complex needs of women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence was music to my ears; given that in 2007 I listened to heart-wrenching accounts by Zambian…