Trade unionists, journalists and human rights defenders have been forced into exile, or faced harassment, threats and intimation simply for exercising their most basic rights: freedom of expression, association and peaceful protest. Launch an independent investigation into the assassination of Thulani Maseko, prominent human rights lawyer and co-chair of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, who was murdered in January 2023. Sticks Nkambule, the General Secretary of the Swaziland Transport, Communication and Allied Workers Union (SWATCAWU), remains in exile following an attempt on his life in 2022. In January 2023, human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, chair of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum – a civic alliance for dialogue with the authorities – was assassinated at his home in front of his wife and children. His killing remains uninvestigated, despite international calls for an independent investigation, including by the UN expert commissioners on human rights.