|
Back to Index
Zimbabwe: While African Heads of State meet in Paris, human rights violations
against members of civil society continue with impunity
AI
Index: AFR 46/003/2003 (Public) News Service No: 035
Amnesty International
February 20, 2003
As President Mugabe
visits Paris to participate in the Franco-African Summit, Amnesty International
is urging French and African heads of state to seize the opportunity to
publicly state that they will not tolerate human rights violations in
Zimbabwe.
Over the last three
years, Zimbabwean government security forces and state-sponsored militia
have been responsible for numerous human rights violations, entrenching
a pattern of impunity over the past two decades. The ultimate responsibility
for the deliberate state-sponsored campaign of harassment and acts of
violence, including torture, lies with the Zimbabwean authorities.
"The cycle of harassment,
arrest and torture of those who peacefully express their opinion, and
those in opposition to the government views, must end. Those responsible
for human rights violations and abuse must be brought to justice," the
organization said.
Since the beginning
of 2003, state repression of human rights defenders and opposition MPs
has again escalated, with the sole aim to silence dissent.
On 22 January the
Amani Trust, a human rights organization which works with victims of torture,
received threats to fire-bomb its offices. The organization had already
suspended most of its activities in Zimbabwe because of fears for the
safety of its employees.
On 15 January Job
Sikhala, Movement for Democratic Change Member of Parliament for St Mary's,
also in Harare, Gabriel Shumba, a lawyer with the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum, Charles Mutama, Bishop Shumba and Taurai Magaya were arrested
by the police on charges of trying to 'subvert a constitutional government'.
Medical evidence presented in court on 17 January indicated that the five
men had been beaten on the soles of their feet and that Job Sikhala and
Gabriel Shumba had been tortured with electricity.
With President Mugabe's
presence in Paris, the French government has an opportunity to show its
commitment to the Guidelines to EU policy towards third countries on torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, which
state that "the EU's objective is to influence third countries to take
effective measures against torture and ill-treatment and to ensure that
the prohibition against torture and ill-treatment is upheld."
At the level of African
regional human rights instruments, Amnesty International underlines that
Article 5 of the African Charter to which Zimbabwe is party, prohibits
torture, inhumane or degrading punishment or treatment. In addition, the
African Commission Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition of Torture,
Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa state that
there should be no immunity from prosecution for nationals suspected of
torture and that those responsible for acts of torture or ill-treatment
be subject to legal process.
Amnesty International
calls on the African Heads of State and the French government to take
all necessary steps to ensure that they and the Zimbabwean authorities
live up to their responsibilities under theseguidelines.
"African leaders must
take a more public stand against state sponsored repression and violence
in Zimbabwe. A stronger stand is vital to ending impunity in Zimbabwe
and to protecting the human rights of all Zimbabwean citizens," Amnesty
International said.
Public Document
********************
For more information
please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44
20 7413 5566 Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web:
http://www.amnesty.org
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
