United States Department of State

Swaziland United States Department of State

Citizens remained unable to change their government. The three main human rights abuses were police use of excessive force, including torture, beatings, and unlawful killings; restrictions on freedoms of association, assembly, and speech; and discrimination against and abuse of women and children. Other human rights problems included arbitrary arrests and lengthy pretrial detention; arbitrary interference with privacy and home; prohibitions on political activity and harassment of political activists; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community and persons with albinism; mob violence; harassment of labor leaders; child labor; and restrictions on worker rights. The government took few or no steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses. In general perpetrators acted with impunity.