18 May April 2026 Monthly human rights repot

In the month of April, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) documented a total of 145 human rights violations. The violations documented in this report exclude the human rights abuses recorded during the Constitutional Amendment Bill (3) public hearings, which concluded on 2 April 2026, as those cases were already captured in the March MMR. The violations affected 3,675 victims: 1,887 females, including eight females with disabilities, and 1,788 males, including six males with disabilities. . 

The documented violations reflect a deteriorating human rights environment characterized by intimidation, violence, and the abuse of authority. Citizens were subjected to threats of violence, assaults, abductions, unlawful detention, unjustified arrests, and other forms of inhuman treatment, undermining their rights to personal security and dignity. Cases of restricted freedoms of assembly, association, and expression were also recorded, alongside politically motivated discrimination in access to government support, social services, and administrative justice. 

Individuals affiliated with ZANU PF constituted the largest share of identified perpetrators of human rights violations in April, accounting for 53.72% of all recorded perpetrators. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) represented 13.50% of perpetrators, followed by suspected state security agents at 6.89%. Traditional leaders accounted for 6.61% of perpetrators, while members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) constituted 2.75%. Local councils made up 5.79% of identified perpetrators, with other government officials accounting for 5.23%. School authorities represented 3.03%, while perpetrators without any affiliation accounted for 2.20%. Religious leaders constituted 0.28%. Overall, the data indicates that political actors, state security institutions, and government-linked structures comprised the majority of perpetrators implicated in documented human rights violations during the reporting period.

In “Towards Sustainable Peace in Zimbabwe” section, the Zimbabwe Peace Project commends the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls for its engagement with the Government of Zimbabwe on Constitution Amendment Bill No. 3 and the protection of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission. However, under “Ten Steps Backward,” ZPP raises concern over the selective administration of justice, where cases involving politically aligned perpetrators are fast-tracked while opposition-linked activists face prolonged detention and delayed proceedings, undermining confidence in judicial impartiality and equal access to justice.