Back to Index

Torture by State Agents in Zimbabwe: January 2001 to August 2002 - Excerpts
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
April 10, 2003

Download this document
- Word 97  (210KB)
- Acrobat PDF version (432KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.

Background
Against the background of the seriously deteriorating human-rights situation in Zimbabwe, there is increasing evidence of the involvement of formal State agencies such as the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in the perpetration of gross human-rights violations. In recent months, human-rights organisations have seen a dramatic increase in cases in which State agencies are alleged to have committed human-rights violations. This represents a change in the profile of human rights violations, which hitherto have been allegedly committed mainly by Zanu PF supporters, youth militia and so-called "war veterans".

Recent months have also seen increased hostility by the ZRP towards human-rights organisations. Threats have been made against these organisations by senior Ministers and human-rights defenders have been arrested on what appear to be spurious charges. It is noteworthy that the regime is now seeking to implement restrictive legislation against civil society organisations, requiring them to be registered and in important respects controlled, by the State. When these developments are viewed against the mountain of evidence accumulated by civil society organisations on human-rights violations in Zimbabwe, as well as the government’s promulgation of amnesties for perpetrators of such violations, they lead to the conclusion that the regime is seeking to prevent the reporting of human-rights abuses and to render the perpetrators unaccountable for their actions. Such attempts to avoid accountability must be roundly condemned by all parties, locally, regionally and internationally.

The current picture is neither surprising nor unexpected. The Human Rights Forum and its members have been issuing reports over the last four years, pointing out the increasing climate of repression and calling upon the government to take serious steps to redress the situation. These calls have fallen on deaf ears. The increasing involvement of State agencies in the perpetration of gross human rights violations is the focus of this document. It will not seek to describe in detail the many cases in which the ZRP, the CIO and the ZNA have been involved in organised violence and torture, but will draw out the major trends by reference to the many reports already published. It will also draw some conclusions from the data available in the past two years.

This report only deals with matters up to August 2002, but it is evident that there have been further cases of police torture since then. Developments subsequent to August 2002 may be dealt with in additional reports of the Human Rights Forum but, as will be seen, the conclusions, based only on a selection of cases from the data up to August 2002, are extremely worrying and require urgent action, both locally and internationally.

Conclusion
The only way forward is for strong action to be taken and the recommendations of many groups, both Zimbabwean and international, must be taken seriously. The most sensible recommendations are also echoed from a variety of quarters¹ and can be simply summarised as follows:

• The international community should carry out independent, impartial investigations into human rights violations and should work with Zimbabwean civil society in such investigations;
• Government, regional and international action is needed to reform the Zimbabwe Republic Police in order to promote the accountability and effectiveness of the police;
• Government, regional and international action is needed to promote the Zimbabwe judiciary’s independence and effectiveness;
• The Zimbabwean government should review legislation to repeal or amend those laws that are unconstitutional or violate human rights;
• The Zimbabwe government should ratify the Convention Against Torture with alacrity.

It is evident to all that the Zimbabwe crisis is reaching critical proportions and many are rightly concerned with the looming food crisis and the spectre of mass starvation². However, other aspects of the crisis must be given full attention and the human-rights crisis most of all. Unless the epidemic of gross human rights violations is dealt with there can be little prospect of adequately managing the other aspects of the crisis, including the severe problem of food distribution. Peace depends upon the civilian authorities doing their jobs impartiality and within the laws of the country and here the police are fundamental. The evidence suggests a crisis within the police that requires urgent action and such urgent action must take place now if the rule of law is not to disappear completely.

1 See AMANI (2002), The Presidential Election and the Post-Election Period in Zimbabwe, HARARE: AMANI TRUST; see also AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (2002), Zimbabwe: The Toll of Impunity, LONDON: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL.

2 See PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (2002), ; see earlier PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (2002)

Visit the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum fact sheet

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