The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has expressed concern over a crackdown against human rights defenders and urged the regional and international community to support the country in coming up with domestic solutions to its political and socio-economic challenges.

In a statement dated Wednesday, it said recent causes for concern included attacks on civil society as well as political and religious groups which were trying to highlight the diverse human rights abuses taking place in the southern African country.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has been slammed both at home and abroad over its sustained crackdown on critics and political opponents amid rising public anger over economic hardships blamed on its misrule. 

Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF party has governed Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 -- under late former leader Robert Mugabe for the first 37 of those 40 years -- and is widely accused of rigging elections since the early 2000s to stay in power. It denies the charges.

In an address broadcast live on television earlier this month, Mnangagwa acknowledged the country was in crisis, but mostly blamed his political opponents as well as sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe's ruling elite, the ravages of weather and, more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ZHRC is one of five independent commissions supporting democracy in the southern African country as provided for by the Constitution.

"The Commission therefore wishes to reiterate the inalienability of human rights, including rights of human rights defenders, even during public health emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic," it said in its statement.

"ZHRC calls upon the government to safeguard and advance human rights as dictated by international human rights law and the obligations imposed by treaties and conventions Zimbabwe is party to."

It also urged political parties to "desist from aiding and abetting violations of human rights through incitement and perpetration of violence" and called on the regional and international community to facilitate the "elimination of conflict and hostility between the state and its citizens".

Earlier this month South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose government has been criticised for not being tough enough on Harare over the last 20 years, appointed two special envoys on a mission to Zimbabwe, but they reportedly came back empty handed and were barred from talking to opposition parties and other critics of Mnangagwa's government.