Human rights in Zambia are addressed in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. However, the ''Zambia 2012 Human Rights Report'' of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

(one of the

United States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are annual publications on the human rights conditions in countries and regions outside the United States, mandated by U.S. law to be submitted annually by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of ...

) noted that in general, the government's

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

record remained poor. The 2021 version of this report noted improvements in many areas.

Serious abuses

The ''Zambia 2012 Human Rights Report'' of the US State Department noted the following serious human rights abuses:"Zambia 2012 Human Rights Report"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 22 March 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014. * abuses by security forces, including unlawful killings, torture, and beatings; * life-threatening prison conditions; * restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, and association; media freedom, noting levels of intolerance and harassment of journalists had increased in the year 2016 and suspensions of Itezhi-Tezhi radio station and MuviTV . *

arbitrary arrest Arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention are the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is no likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute, or in which there has been no proper due process of law ...

and prolonged pretrial detention; * arbitrary interference with privacy; *

government corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, inf ...

; * violence and discrimination against women, child abuse, and trafficking in persons; * discrimination against persons with disabilities and based on sexual orientation; * restrictions on labor rights, forced labor, and

child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

; and * that the government generally did not take steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses, allowing impunity to remain a problem; * unlawful arrests and application of wrong charges on wrong cases; eg. the treason case of Hakainde Hichilema in 2017; * public access to information: The law does not provide for public access to government information; * corruption and lack of transparency in government; * arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence.

''Freedom in the World'' ratings

The following are Zambia's ratings since 1972 in the

Freedom in the World ''Freedom in the World'' is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization Freedom House that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territo ...

reports, published annually by

Freedom House Freedom House is a non-profit, majority U.S. government funded organization in Washington, D.C., that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, and Wendell Wil ...

(1 is best, 7 is worst).

Freedom of the press

Freedoms of expression and of the press are constitutionally guaranteed in Zambia, but the government frequently restricts these rights in practice. Although the ruling Patriotic Front has pledged to free state-owned media—consisting of the

Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is a Zambian television and radio station, formerly state owned, now technically a statutory body but still essentially under government control. It is the oldest, widest, and largest radio and ...

(ZNBC) and the widely circulated ''

Zambia Daily Mail The ''Zambia Daily Mail'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper published in Zambia. It is one of two state-owned papers of the Zambian government. History and operations The newspaper arose from the ''Central African Mail'', which ...

'' and ''

Times of Zambia The ''Times of Zambia'' is a national daily newspaper published in Zambia and headquartered in Ndola. During the colonial period the newspaper was known firstly as ''The Copperbelt Times'' and then ''The Northern News'' It was a twice-weekly news ...

''—from government editorial control, these outlets have generally continued to report along pro-government lines. Many journalists reportedly practice self-censorship since most government newspapers do have prepublication review. The ZNBC dominates the broadcast media, though several private stations have the capacity to reach large portions of the population. The rights group

, which publishes annual country reports on press freedom status, has ranked Zambia’s press as “Not Free” even in 2016.

Notes

:1.As of January 1.

References

External links

Human Rights in the Republic of Zambia
, Amnesty International.
Freedom in the World 2013 Booklet

. {{Zambia topics

Politics of Zambia