Local and international human rights organisations have condemned the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill in Zimbabwe as infringing on human rights and democratic standards.
The condemnation of the Bill pushes back against the government’s claim that the law is meant to comply with the Financial Action Taskforce’s (FATF) recommendations on curbing terrorism financing through charities.
While the initial Bill lapsed in August 2023, the new Bill resembles it, according to legal watchdog, Veritas.
Zimbabwean civil society has argued the PVO Bill gave the Minister arbitrary powers to control their activities, including designating as s/he deems fit any organisations as being at risk and suspending their executive committees.
The Bill violates freedom of assembly by banning CSOs from “political involvement” which can be widely interpreted to include most of the activities and roles of CSOs in a democratic society, said Citizens in Action Southern Africa (CIASA) in a position paper.
The Bill also criminalises the administration of PVOs by widening conduct punishable as criminal rather than administrative offences.
After the initial Bill was passed by the National Assembly and Senate, and as it awaited President Emmerson Mnangagwa in February 2023, four UN experts said restrictions contained in the law, “would have a chilling effect on civil society – particularly dissenting voices.”
“The Registrar’s Office powers will include the ability to consider, grant and reject registration of PVOs, with little to no judicial recourse against such actions.”
Comprising the UN Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, the experts who released the statement on 14 February 2023 included, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism.
The UN experts urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to reject the Bill, and its re-introduction to Parliament means the government ignored this advice.
After the government gazetted the 2024 version of the Bill on 1 March, Amnesty International said in a 19 April 2024 statement “the new bill reflects that most of the issues raised were not addressed and it still contains provisions which will negatively impact civic space…”