VII. Sustained Harassment and Intimidation of Human Rights Activists The use of repressive tactics is not used solely on those who demonstrate—the authorities also use repression and intimidation to silence human rights advocates during the course of their daily work, and thus prevent them from exposing human rights abuses. Like student activists, human rights organizations have also been accused of supporting the opposition, and of receiving funds from Western donors to destabilize the country.69 Human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama told Human Rights Watch, “The police believe that human rights advocates want to topple a democratically elected government. Anything that is likely to link to human rights is construed as an attempt to change the government.”70 The determination of human rights defenders to expose human rights abuses, and create conditions for the respect of human rights, has made them natural targets for the Zimbabwean authorities. Human rights activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Harare said that they are repeatedly subjected to threats and harassment by the government and other state agents.71 These threats take many forms including attacks in the state media by state officials, public statements by ministers, and threatening phone calls involving death threats by unknown persons purporting to speak on behalf of the government. Some human rights organizations report that their offices are sometimes subjected to random checks without warrant by police under the pretext of looking for incriminating material or evidence of criminal activities. Other activists report that police and intelligence officers often follow, harass and intimidate them. An activist told Human Rights Watch: 69 Human Rights Watch interviews with human rights activists (names withheld), Harare, October 3-4, 2006. In a speech at the inaugural session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 21, 2006, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa accused local NGOs working on human rights and governance of being “financed by developed countries as instruments of their foreign policy,” and called for the security council to produce a framework which “prohibits direct funding of local NGOs”. According to the minister, the objectives of these foreign governments were to undermine sovereignty and promote disaffection and hostility among the local population. The full text of the speech can be found at http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/statements/zimbabwe.pdf (accessed June 22, 2006). 70 Human Rights Watch interview with Alec Muchadehama, Harare, October 4, 2006. 71 Human Rights Watch interviews with human rights activists (names withheld), Harare, October 3–4, 2006. 25 Human rights watch November 2006