It also brings into sharp focus the southern African nation’s human rights record. According to the ITUC documentation of violations of workers’ rights, Zimbabwe joined a bleak list of controversial nations such as Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Turkey. “In the aftermath of the violent attacks against workers during the general strikes organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in October 2018 and January 2019, Zimbabwe continued its crackdown against trade unions,” the report said. “Twenty-eight ZCTU members still faced criminal charges after their arrest over a year ago. If convicted, they could be sentenced to a mandatory 10-year jail term. ZCTU president Peter Mutasa and general secretary Japhet Moyo, both of whom had been arrested and charged with subversion, were released in February 2019, but they remained under strict release conditions, banned from travel and forced to check in regularly at the police station.”