|
Back to Index
United
Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum
June 26, 2003
Today, 26th
June 2003, marks the United Nations International Day in Support
of Victims of Torture, which is defined as "the act of inflicting
excruciating pain, especially as a means of punishment or coercion"
resulting in the victim experiencing "extreme anguish of body
and mind". That such a day should be commemorated is an appalling
indictment against humanity in general.
The Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum (the author of this advertorial) has been
in existence since January 1998, when nine non-governmental organisations
working in the field of human rights came together to provide legal
and psychosocial assistance to the victims of the Food Riots of
January 1998.
The Human Rights
Forum has expanded its objectives since then to assist victims of
organised violence, using the definition:
"'Organised
violence' means the inter-human infliction of significant avoidable
pain and suffering by an organised group according to a declared
or implied strategy and/or system of ideas and attitudes. It comprises
any violent action, which is unacceptable by general human standards,
and relates to the victims' mental and physical well-being."
The members
of the Human Rights Forum are listed below.
Research carried
out by the Human Rights Forum and its members indicate that violence
has increased alarmingly over the last three years; that political
violence and torture throughout the country continues to be perpetrated
around elections and mass stay-aways although reports continue to
come in of incidents not necessarily associated with these two situations.
In 1999, there
was the notorious case of torture of two Standard journalists, the
late Mr Mark Chavunduka and Mr Ray Choto. Despite apparent acceptance
by the state that the torture had taken place, no action was taken
against the perpetrators and indeed no action has been taken to
date, even in the face of High Court and Supreme Court rulings.
Human rights violations continued to be committed during 2000 and
while there were periods during 2001 when organised violence and
torture declined in relation to previous years, it did increase
in association with various parliamentary by-elections that took
place.
There was an
absolute increase in organised violence and torture in 2002 and
an alarming increase in allegations that state agents were said
to have been involved. From the statistics complied by the Human
Rights Forum for the year ended December 2002, there were 1061 cases
of torture, 227 abductions/kidnappings, 121 unlawful arrests and
111 unlawful detentions. These figures are undoubtedly conservative.
Reports over the period 1st June 2001 to 30th June 2002 showed that
there was a pattern of gross human rights violations committed predominantly
pre and post the March 2002 Presidential Elections. An analysis
of 900 statements from the survivors of organised violence and torture
over this period reflected some chilling trends. These were recorded
in the report "Are They Accountable? Examining alleged violators
and their violations pre and post the Presidential Election March
2002".
Murder:
Generally the alleged murders were committed in a brutal manner,
often using low tech instruments, such as knives, bottles, batons,
axes, hoes, knobkerries, sjamboks, or chains. In many cases deaths
were the result of injuries sustained when the victims were tortured.
Attempted
murder: Most cases of attempted murder involved stabbing. In
some cases a firearm was employed.
Unlawful arrest
and detention: Arrest and detention were almost always accompanied
with some form of torture. Often multiple torture techniques were
employed on the victim. Torture methods included beatings with batons;
whips or sjamboks, including falanga, (beating on the soles of the
feet) the use of water (including mock drowning) choking; sexual
humiliation, (including injury to the genitalia) or removal of clothing
before being beaten; humiliation or torture in front of family members;
being beaten while blind-folded and the use of tear gas. Sometimes
victims claimed they were forced to shout ruling-party slogans or
to salute pictures of the President.
Torture:
This was by far the most frequent form of violence employed.
Abduction or kidnapping: These were carried out with the
intention of later torturing and/or interrogating the victims.
Rape and
sexual torture: Sexual violence was used as weapon to spread
terror and humiliate the victims. Women were targeted as being physically
weaker and less likely to report the matter to members of their
community or the authorities. The number of rape cases reported
to the Human Rights Forum is probably only a small fraction of those
that occurred during the period covered by this report. In three
of the eleven cases reported, the women were raped in the presence
of their husbands.
Property-related
crimes: These were the second most frequent type of violation
recorded over the past few years. Increases in the frequency of
cases of arson and property damage coincided with periods of violence
associated with elections and intensified commercial farm invasions.
Petrol bombings were a popular campaign tactic for both political
parties.
Militia bases:
Of the 978 victims whose cases are examined in the report, 98 (10%)
alleged they were abducted to a base in their area.
In Zimbabwe,
2003 has been marked by stay-aways and mass action and these have
been associated with an increase in organised violence. Reports
received following the stayaways, have predominately indicated "blunt
violence" as the method of torture used, the instruments most
commonly being named by victims as baton sticks, chains, sjamboks
and rifle butts. The statistics for 1 January to 30 April 2003 show
that 250 claimed to have been tortured, 418 unlawfully arrested,
123 unlawfully detained and 174 assaulted. There are disturbing
reports of torture of victims, of attacks on medical facilities
where victims are treated and allegations that the torture and violence
has the tacit approval of the state.
Common testimonies
from many victims of violence over the last immediate period in
the high density suburbs, include reports of forcible invasions
by uniformed military personnel in the early hours of the morning
and of random/dragnet arrests.
The Human Rights Forum condemns undeservingly all forms of violence,
from whatever quarter, perpetrated on members of the public, including
violence perpetrated by political parties and so-called "retaliatory"
violence, it must be recorded that to date, the bulk of the reports
indicate that the violence has however been perpetrated by either
state agents, youth militia or members of the ruling party.
Equally disturbing are the reports of violence employed by members
of the opposition.
The Human Rights
Forum reiterates its concern over the failure by the state to ensure
that law enforcement agents carry out their duty to the citizens
of Zimbabwe in terms of the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution
and it urges the Government to judiciously observe its international
obligations for the protection of human rights. It equally condemns
unreservedly all forms of political violence and torture.
Core member
organisations of the Human Rights Forum are:
- Amani Trust
- Amnesty International
(Zimbabwe) (AI (Z))
- Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP)
- Gays and
Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
- Legal Resources
Foundation (LRF)
- Transparency
International (Zimbabwe) (TI (Z))
- University
of Zimbabwe Legal Aid and Advice Scheme (LAAS)
- Zimbabwe
Association for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of the
Offender (ZACRO)
- Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)
- Zimbabwe
Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET)
- Zimbabwe
Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
- Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
- Zimbabwe
Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)
Associate Member
is:
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
|
