Zambian govt rejects UN Special Rapporteur’s claims on post-election developments

Officials said Zambia remained committed to engagement with United Nations human rights mechanisms, but stressed that such engagement must be based on accuracy and respect for the mandate of each holder.

“Zambia values the contribution of the United Nations Special Procedures to the promotion and protection of human rights and remains committed to constructive engagement with all human rights mechanisms,” the government stated.

It stated that engagement should, however, rest on accuracy, objectivity, due regard for information supplied by the State, and respect for the specific mandate entrusted to each mandate holder.

The ministry contrasted the Rapporteur’s approach with that of the United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, who was in Zambia during the election period and facilitated the handover of two leaders to the Church and later to security agencies.

“The United Nations Special Envoy engaged directly on the ground and chose constructive facilitation. The Special Rapporteur, from a distance and without such engagement, has chosen condemnation by news release. The contrast speaks for itself,” the statement said.

The Government listed four main concerns, saying the release contained a verifiable error of law by describing treason as a capital offence especially that Zambia abolished the death penalty in December 2022 and removed it from military law in December 2023.

“First, the news release is wrong on the law. It describes treason in Zambia as a ‘capital offence.’ It is not. Zambia abolished the death penalty under the Penal Code in December 2022 and removed it from military law through the Defence (Amendment) Act signed in December 2023,” the Government stated.

The Government also objected to characterisations such as post-election crackdown and political detainees, arguing that membership in an opposition party did not place a person beyond the law and courts.

“The assertion that senior opposition figures face ‘concocted charges of treason’ goes further still. It pronounces on the merits of live criminal proceedings. Whether the evidence establishes an offence is for Zambia’s independent courts to determine through due process, not for an international mandate holder to settle by news release,” reads the statement.

The Government said the release went beyond the Rapporteur’s mandate by making sweeping claims on electoral flaws, intimidation, assaults, abductions and deaths without establishing a clear link to freedom of assembly and association.

It stated that the statement raised concerns under the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate-holders, arguing that terms like crackdown and concocted charges were conclusions about state motives rather than neutral descriptions.

“Independence does not dispense with verification. An allegation does not become a fact by being repeated in a United Nations news release,” the Government stated.

It called on the Special Rapporteur and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to publicly correct the description of treason as a capital offence with the same prominence as the original release.

The Zambian government also urged clearer distinction between allegations and verified facts in future communications.

“Zambia remains committed to constitutional democracy, political pluralism, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the rule of law, and constructive cooperation with the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures Mandate Holders,” it assured.

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