Back to Index

Statement on the International Day Against Torture
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
June 26, 2004

Torture: "the act of inflicting severe pain or suffering especially as a means of punishment or coercion." It is intentionally inflicted on a person and results in the victim experiencing "extreme anguish of body and mind".

26 June marks the United Nations Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Torture is a human rights violation about which Zimbabweans are deeply knowledgeable. Torture has been reported in all of the past decades in association with the War of Liberation prior to independence, political events such as elections, and in the case of the early to mid 1980s, disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands. Zimbabwean human rights groups have continuously reported upon torture, and acted in defence of the victims.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first international instrument to proscribe torture in the aftermath of the Second World War. The prohibition against torture has been extended by both international statutes, such as the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter for Human and People's Rights, the Convention Against Torture, the Genocide Convention and finally with the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court.

The prohibition has been accepted as a pre-emptory norm of international law and there are now an expanding number of cases being heard both by international tribunals and within the domestic jurisdictions of countries around the world. The general trend towards impunity is also being progressively revoked, as the removal of impunity for General Pinochet and the demand for extradition for Charles Taylor demonstrate. The world is saying clearly that torture and other crimes against humanity must stop, and that there are legal consequences for those who practice torture and even for those who sanction it.

The United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT), which came into force in 1987, is concerned with the eradication of torture and requires State Parties who have ratified it to ensure that torture, attempts to commit torture or complicity in torture are treated as criminal offences. Zimbabwe is still to ratify CAT. Parliament passed a motion to ratify it on 23 May 2001. However, no subsequent action has been taken. The Human Rights Forum calls upon the Government of Zimbabwe to ratify the Convention Against Torture without further delay. It urges the Government to observe its international and constitutional obligations for the protection of human rights in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, from its inception in January 1998, has campaigned against torture and made many demands for the avoidance of impunity and the legal support that is the right of every torture victim and Zimbabwean citizen. The Forum has taken many cases of torture to the Courts, and continues to do so. Even though civil action has been the only recourse to justice afforded most victims of torture, the Forum has nonetheless undertaken this support of victims in an effort to stamp out this horrible violation.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has exposed torture whenever it has occurred, continuing the tradition set in the past by human rights groups: that of defending human rights without fear or bias. Since 1998, the Forum has issued more than 40 reports on human rights violations in Zimbabwe, the majority of which concerned torture. This continues the tradition of the reports issued in the 1970s and the 1980s by Zimbabwean human rights groups.

The Monthly Political Violence Reports, published by the Human Rights Forum, reflected that 497 people claimed to have been tortured in 2003. This showed a reduction from 2002 when 1061 cases were reported, the majority of them in connection with the Presidential Election of March 2002. However, unlawful arrests peaked from 121 in 2002 to 579 in 2003; unlawful detentions rose from 111 in 2002 to 168 in 2003 and there were 388 reported assaults, primarily attributed to state agents, in 2003 as against 52 in 2002.

The reports of the Forum have been validated by numerous independent bodies, and stand as strong testimony to the many thousands of victims in Zimbabwe who had the courage to break the silence and establish the truth of history of Zimbabwean civil rights activists.

The plight of the victims was at the core of the Johannesburg Symposium of Zimbabwean civil rights groups held in South Africa in August 2003. The Declaration and the Summary of that Symposium stand as a stark statement of the plight of torture victims and other victims of human rights violations in Zimbabwe. The Declaration and the Summary chart the way to a torture-free Zimbabwe, an end to impunity, and the final redress of the victims.

On this day, let us remember the victims, from whichever decade they come, and once again re-iterate the recommendations of the Johannesburg Declaration:  

1. That human rights abuses of the past - both during the colonial and post-colonial eras- must be redressed;
2. that mechanisms be put in place to guarantee that human rights abuses never again occur in Zimbabwe;
3. that blanket amnesties for human rights abusers should not be allowed; and specifically that there should be no further general amnesty for human rights abusers;
4. that the necessary institutions be set up to deal with past and present human rights abuses, and that such institutions be empowered not only to investigate and seek the truth, but also to recommend criminal prosecution, provide for redress and reparations for victims, and lead to healing of the nation. Such institutions must encourage and sensitively deal with the special needs of victims. This is particularly important in dealing with women and children as victims;
5. that the Constitution guarantees future respect for human rights and sets up a justice system and other institutions to give effect to such guarantee;
6. that the Government must enable Zimbabweans to take advantage of the protection and remedies offered by international human rights instruments.

Members of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum are:

• Amani Trust Amnesty International (Zimbabwe) (AI (Z))
• Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP)
• Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
• Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT)
• Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
• Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
• Nonviolent Action and Strategies for Social Change (NOVASC)
• Transparency International (Zimbabwe) (TI (Z))
• University of Zimbabwe Legal Aid and Advice Scheme (UZ (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 Peace Project (ZPP)
• Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)

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