Housing, jobs and freedoms: The rights Zimbabweans are still fighting for 

By Ndumiso Tshuma

Zimbabwe has made progress in key areas of social and economic rights but continues to lag significantly on civil and political freedoms, according to the latest global assessment by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI).

The country scored 67.8% on Quality of Life when assessed against an income-adjusted benchmark. HRMI described this as close to the Sub-Saharan Africa regional average.

“Zimbabwe scores 67.8% on Quality of Life when scored against the ‘income-adjusted’ benchmark. Compared with the other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe is performing close to average on Quality of Life rights,” the report stated.

In economic and social rights, Zimbabwe recorded strong results in key areas. The right to education scored 85.6%, the right to food 84.6%, and the right to health 85.0%. These figures indicate notable progress in the provision of basic services.

However, the country performed poorly in other essential areas. The right to housing was rated at 38.3%, while the right to work received a score of 45.4%, highlighting ongoing challenges in access to adequate shelter and employment opportunities.

Zimbabwe also fell short on civil and political rights. The nation was awarded a score of 5.7 out of 10 for “Safety from the State”, a measure reflecting risks such as arbitrary arrest, torture, forced disappearance and extrajudicial killing.

“Zimbabwe’s Safety from the State score of 5.7 out of 10 suggests that many people are not safe from one or more of the following: arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment, forced disappearance, execution, or extrajudicial killing,” HRMI said.

The breakdown of these results shows Zimbabwe scored 3.8 for protection from arbitrary arrest, 4.5 for freedom from torture and ill-treatment, 6.4 for protection from enforced disappearance, 7.3 for protection from extrajudicial execution, and a full 10.0 for the death penalty.

On empowerment rights which include freedoms of speech, assembly and political participation, Zimbabwe received an overall score of 3.7 out of 10, described by HRMI as “below average”.

“Zimbabwe’s Empowerment score of 3.7 out of 10 suggests that many people are not enjoying their civil liberties and political freedoms, including freedom of speech, assembly and association, democratic rights, and religion and belief,” the report stated.

Individual scores for empowerment rights were low, with 3.6 for freedom of assembly and association, 3.8 for freedom of opinion and expression, 4.1 for participation in government, and 9.0 for freedom of religion and belief.

HRMI noted that while there is insufficient data to enable regional comparisons on civil and political rights across Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe is performing worse than average when compared with other countries in the global sample.

“For civil and political rights, we don’t have sufficient data across Sub-Saharan African countries to allow for a regional comparison. However, when compared to the other countries in our sample, Zimbabwe is performing lower than average on empowerment rights,” HRMI said.

Zimbabwe’s population stands at 16.3 million, with a GDP per capita of $2,156, according to 2023 estimates.

The full HRMI report on Zimbabwe is available at rightstracker.org.