The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) announced today (May 23) in Atlanta that the 2006 laureates are Akbar Ganji, Iran, and Arnold Tsunga, Zimbabwe. Arnold Tsunga is an outstanding lawyer, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who continues to provide a voice to Zimbabweans silenced by repression. For representing victims of human rights violations he is constantly harassed and threatened. He was arrested several times and recently released on bail.

Tariro Muchina was barely in her teens late last year when her father "sold" her off into an arranged marriage in the small-scale farming district of Nyamajura, about 250km east of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. Twelve months down the line, the 14-year-old Muchina, who was literally dragged screaming all the way into "marriage", appears to have come to terms with her fate, reports the Mail and Guardian.

This report presents a gender analysis of the status of women and girls in Zimbabwe in the wider economic, social and political context. Divided into three parts, the first part looks at the situation of women since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995, looking at economic policies, women's participation in politics and decision-making, laws and legal reform, education and technology, the socio-cultural context, health and media; the second part examines the gendered impact of Zimbabwean policies and programmes from 1998-2004; and the final section provides recommendations.

Police in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo have threatened prominent woman rights activist, Jenni Williams, with death if she dares organise any more anti-government demonstrations by her Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) group, Zim Online has learnt. Bulawayo lawyer Kossam Ncube, whose law firm Job Sibanda and Associates acts for Williams and WOZA, told Zim Online that they had reported the matter to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights which is expected to take up the issue with police authorities.

Zimbabwe's annual inflation stormed to a record 1,042.9 percent in April, surging into four figures for the first time, official figures showed on Friday (12 May). The world's highest inflation rate is the product of an economic meltdown also marked by shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food and rising unemployment. The data had been due for release on Wednesday, but that was abruptly cancelled and CSO officials would not say what had caused the delay. The CSO said on a monthly basis, the consumer price index leapt by 21.1 percent from 19.8 percent in March as prices increased on an almost daily basis, according to Reuters.

Police in the Zimbabwean capital Harare have rounded up more than 10 000 squatters and street children and plan to send them to rural areas, reports said on Monday (May 15). Under a fresh clean-up operation codenamed Round-Up, the police netted 10 224 people, many of them vagrants, touts and what the authorities call "disorderly elements", said the state-controlled Herald newspaper. "We are going to relocate some of the vagrants and street children to their homes," said police spokesperson Munyaradzi Musariri.

Recent moves by the Zimbabwean government to allow white farmers whose land was confiscated to resume farming, have drawn a variety of responses. "They killed people; they threw them out of their farms, they destroyed the economy. Now they want us to rescue them," Gerry Whitehead, whose land was seized in 2002, told IPS. However, Doug Taylor-Freeme -- president of the predominantly white Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) -- said there appeared to be "a conducive environment to progress with this matter."

Batsirai Group is a Zimbabwean non-governmental organisation working to strengthen community response to HIV and AIDS. Following a successful two-year placement, the organisation is currently seeking to consolidate its work in promoting community participation within its partner communities and within its own staff. The postholder will also assist in strengthening documentation systems, organisational learning and participatory monitoring and evaluation.

The hundreds of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members - men, women and children - who marched for eight blocks through central Bulawayo on May 4 to the government offices at Mhlanhlandlela, calling for a reversal to crippling school fee increases of up to 1000%, have finally been released. Having completed their march, the peaceful group were beginning to disperse when riot police arrived. Initial reports suggested that approximately 200 people were arrested, including 73 children. Follow the link for the day to day details regarding the imprisonment.

President Robert Mugabe’s complex succession struggle took a dramatic twist this week with disclosures that he has given ministers orders to amend the constitution to move the presidential election to 2010 to secure a two-year extension to his hold on power. Reliable official sources said Mugabe last month gave Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, his point man on constitutional issues, and his Rural Housing counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa, also Zanu PF’s legal affairs secretary, a fresh mandate to change the constitution to delay the 2008 presidential poll until 2010 to allow him to hang onto office for a further two years.

Zimbabwe state security agents have stepped up the use of torture against government opponents, with 19 cases reported in March compared with three during the previous two months, a local rights group said on Saturday. President Robert Mugabe's government dismisses as political propaganda charges that it uses intimidation, arbitrary arrests and torture to keep its opponents in check in the face of a deepening economic crisis many critics blame on its policies, reports Reuters.

As we survey the terrain of political contestation it is very difficult to be sanguine about the options open to civic forces and opposition political parties. The spaces for peaceful democratic politics have been ruthlessly eliminated, and the state appears set to discourage any prospects for national political dialogue. Under these conditions the democratic forces will feel an increasing sense of frustration and strategic blockage, tempted to lock themselves into ritual calls for redundant strategies with little organisational capacity to deliver on such claims. This is according to a publication, ‘Reflections on democratic politics in Zimbabwe’ published by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

A year after Operation Murambatsvina ('Drive Out Filth'), the government's sudden campaign to purge informal settlements, the lives of thousands of affected Zimbabweans have not changed. Uprooted last year from homes built illegally in the capital, Harare, families with five or more members have been squeezed into tiny living spaces authorised by the government on the outskirts of the city, with no source of employment and, in some cases, no access to medical facilities.

Hundreds of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members will be marching in Bulawayo tomorrow (4 May) to demand that their children be allowed to go to school. They will insist on seeing the Provincial Governor and will deliver a set of demands. Recent fee increases of up to 1000% have meant that many families across the country can no longer afford the exorbitant rates now imposed. As a result, many children will not be returning to school next week.

In rural Zimbabwe, community health clubs have been set up to change health behaviour and increase demand for better sanitation. A study of the clubs' impact suggests that they have helped to change up to 17 key hygiene practices. This approach could now be replicated in other countries.

Two Botswana Television (Btv) crew, a journalist and an unidentified cameramen were arrested by Zimbabwean authorities at the Matsiloje border gate on Sunday (April 30).

Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has reiterated threats that the government will use armed soldiers and police to crush mass protests planned by the opposition for the winter. Speaking to ZimOnline at the weekend, Mutasa said no one should expect the government to "keep its security organs in the camps" in the face of opposition-instigated protests meant to oust it.

On March 17 2006, MISA reported that the Government of Zimbabwe had drafted the Interception of Communications Bill 2006, which seeks to empower the chief of the Central Intelligence. In essence, the proposed law seeks to empower the chief of defence intelligence, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept telephone, e-mail and cell phone messages.

Although legislation will go a long way in serving as a deterrent, women will remain vulnerable as long as cultural perceptions based on patriarchy remain unshaken. Cultural philosophies in relation to gender violence need a complete overhaul. Legislation can assist women in "visible" cases such as divorce settlements, inheritance, reported cases of physical violence, etc. But legislation can do next to nothing with "invisible" cases such as psychological violence and unreported cases of abuse.

Zimbabweans living in the diaspora have reacted angrily to statements by President Robert Mugabe. "They are letting the country down by going to England where they are looked down on and given dirty menial jobs, they scratch the backs of old people in homes in England," he said.