Zimbabwe

The government of President Robert Mugabe continues to violate human rights without regard to protections in the country’s new constitution. An expected legislative framework and new or amended laws to improve human rights in line with the constitution has yet to materialize. Police violate basic rights, such as freedom of expression and assembly, using old laws that are inconsistent with the new constitution. Activists and human rights defenders, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, face police harassment. There has been no progress toward securing justice for human rights abuses and past political violence, including violence after the 2008 election.

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End Child Marriage

15 million girls marry before age 18 each year. Child marriage has devastating consequences. Married girls face health risks—including death—due to early pregnancy, are usually forced to quit education, sink deeper into poverty, and are at greater risk of domestic and sexual violence. If child marriage continues at this rate, by 2050 there will be 1.2 billion women alive who married as children. There’s no time to waste—demand an end to child marriage on October 11, International Day of the Girl.