REVERSE PASSPORT CANCELLATION: Global Academicians Join Forces To Fight Dr. Sishuwa Shiwuwa’s Passport Revocation
REVERSE PASSPORT CANCELLATION: Global Academicians Join Forces To Fight Dr. Sishuwa Shiwuwa’s Passport Revocation
Dr. Shishuwa’s passport was revoked alongside journalist and Tonse Alliance spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, former Nkana MP Binwell Mpundu, former Petauker MP Emmanuel Jay Jay Banda and UK-based Zambian Lilian Mutambo.
An organization named Democracy in Africa has issued a statement demanding the reversal of the revocation saying it was against international human rights.
Academics from around the world have mobilised to campaign against the Zambian government’s decision to cancel the passport of Sishuwa Sishuwa, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at Stellenbosch University.
On 11 September, the Zambian authorities announced that Sishuwa’s passport had been cancelled “in the interest of national security”, alongside those of a number of other prominent government critics and opposition figures. No specific evidence has been provided publicly to explain why Sishuwa, a respected historian and academic, represents a threat to national security. Amnesty International has condemned the move as an arbitrary use of administrative powers to silence critics, arguing that it violates the right to freedom of movement and forms part of a wider post-election crackdown on dissent. The organisation has called on the government to reverse the decision immediately and restore the passports of those affected.
The text of the petition is below. To sign the petition click here.
We, the undersigned, as prominent academics and researchers of Zambia, Africa and the wider world, are extremely alarmed at the cancellation of the passports of prominent critical individuals in the media, civil society, and academia. We specifically protest against the use of such action against Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa, a prominent historian, analyst of Zambian political affairs, and Senior Lecturer in History at Stellenbosch University.
As Amnesty International has stated: “The arbitrary cancellation of passports by Zambian authorities is a violation of international human rights law. By weaponizing citizenship documents to target dissidents, activists, or political opponents, authorities explicitly breach the right to freedom of movement enshrined in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR. … The decision to cancel these passports effectively strips these individuals of their legal and social identity and traps them in a state of de facto statelessness.”
As historians and social scientists, who have studied and published in and about Zambia for many decades, we are extremely concerned about the use of authoritarian measures to silence legitimate and constitutionally protected critical voices.
Dr Sishuwa, who has published outstanding and prize-winning research articles in the world’s most prominent African studies journals, is drawing on his research expertise to bring to public attention his concerns about the current direction of Zambian political life. These concerns have been echoed by other academics, the European Union Election Observation Mission, and leading international organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International.
Article 20 of the Constitution of Zambia guarantees Dr Sishuwa and all other Zambians freedom of expression, that is to say freedom to hold opinions, receive ideas and impart or communicate ideas and information without interference.
As citizens and/or longstanding friends of Zambia, many of whom have documented the country’s prominent historical role in the political liberation of Southern Africa, we are deeply worried about this use of such tools by the Government of Zambia. We therefore call for the immediate reversal of these passport cancellations.