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Amnesty International suspended its local office in Zimbabwe after discovering evidence of fraud, the first of its kind by the human rights group.
A "thorough forensic audit was conducted in late 2018, which uncovered evidence of fraud and financial mismanagement," Amnesty said in a statement released on Thursday.
She added that the Zimbabwean branch had been suspended from the world organization and placed under administration and that the Zimbabwean police had been informed of the results of the audit.
"The decision was taken to take extraordinary measures (…) to protect the reputation, integrity and functioning of the movement," he added.
The London-based rights group did not give more details and said it would not provide spokespeople for the talks, but that it would try to recover the lost funds and that urgent measures had been introduced to ensure the security of donor funds.
In Zimbabwe, Amnesty has focused its recent work on the fight against the arrest of human rights defenders, the promotion of freedom of the media and the call for accountability of security forces after allegations of violations.
Last year, the United States reduced the funds allocated to three Zimbabwean civil action groups, citing a "possible diversion" of money.
International media have often accused international rights groups in Zimbabwe of working on behalf of foreign countries to help the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to overturn the government.
Thursday's suspension comes two days after the loss of most members of the senior management team following an independent review of what employees have described as a "toxic workplace."
The seven members of senior management proposed to resign Tuesday and five of them would have left the organization or were about to leave it.
The review was ordered by Amnesty General Secretary Kumi Naidoo, after two employees committed suicide last year.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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