{"id":73936,"date":"2025-06-21T23:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T23:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer"},"modified":"2025-06-21T23:20:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T23:20:00","slug":"upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer","title":{"rendered":"UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT &#8211; The Zambian Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT<\/p>\n<p>Lusaka, Zambia \u2013 June 20, 2025 \u2013 The United Party for National Development (UPND) has strongly dismissed a recent report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan, which raised concerns over Zambia\u2019s human rights record, including freedom of expression, digital rights, and the state of civic space.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka today, UPND Media Director Mark Simuuwe labeled the report as \u201clopsided, misdirected, lacking merit and seriousness,\u201d adding that the findings do not reflect the reality on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom a UPND political point of view, the report should not be taken seriously. It contains findings that are either true or false, but they have been published nonetheless,\u201d Mr. Simuuwe said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Simuuwe defended Zambia\u2019s existing legal framework, particularly cyber laws, arguing that such legislation is in line with international standards for digital rights and data protection.<\/p>\n<p>He described it as ironic that the UN, an advocate for cyber law and human rights, would appear to condemn Zambia for enforcing laws that align with global best practices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United Nations is a mother institution for cyber laws and human rights. This alleged report cannot be seen to glorify abuse of these laws. Zambia is on firm legal ground and is committed to protecting its sovereignty,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Simuuwe further noted that international confidence in Zambia\u2019s human rights trajectory has been growing, citing the resumption of funding by the European Union and the United Kingdom as clear endorsements of the country\u2019s democratic progress.<\/p>\n<p>He also took issue with the report\u2019s apparent omission of past human rights abuses under the previous Patriotic Front (PF) government, including incidents of extra-judicial killings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are questioning the authorship and intent behind this report. It says nothing about documented abuses under the PF era, which makes its neutrality questionable,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Simuuwe emphasized that Zambia, like many countries globally, has laws that criminalize sedition and hate speech, offences commonly flagged even by platforms like Facebook which uses cyber laws of the United States of America.<\/p>\n<p>The UN report, released following a 10-day mission by Special Rapporteur Khan, warned that Zambia was \u201cat a crossroads\u201d on human rights and urged stronger legal and institutional reforms.<\/p>\n<p>However, the UPND has pushed back, saying the report\u2019s findings threaten to undermine the country\u2019s sovereign right to legislate in line with its development goals and public security needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 UPND Media Team<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\">Zambia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT Lusaka, Zambia \u2013 June 20, 2025 \u2013 The United Party for National Development (UPND) has strongly dismissed a recent report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan, which raised concerns over Zambia\u2019s human rights record, including freedom of expression, digital rights, and the state of civic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":73935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-73936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT - The Zambian Observer - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT - The Zambian Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT Lusaka, Zambia \u2013 June 20, 2025 \u2013 The United Party for National Development (UPND) has strongly dismissed a recent report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan, which raised concerns over Zambia\u2019s human rights record, including freedom of expression, digital rights, and the state of civic [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-21T23:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-un-human-rights-report-the-zambian-observer\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UPND DISMISSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT &#8211; 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