|
Back to Index
Statement
by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on the Reaction by the Government
of Zimbabwe to the Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe
by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights in
June 2002
Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum
July 26, 2004
The Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum, (the Human Rights Forum) takes grave exception
to the behavior of the Zimbabwe Government at the recent meeting
of the Executive Council of the African Union [AU], as well as the
plethora of comments by the state-controlled media concerning this
meeting. At this meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs conveyed
the impression that his Government was ignorant of the report on
human rights observance submitted to the Executive Council by the
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. At least,
the Minister had been poorly prepared for this meeting, and, at
worst, the Minister was misleading his august colleagues.
The Human Rights
Forum therefore wishes to set the record straight on the facts surrounding
the tabling of this report before the Executive Council of the AU.
The African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission) was
instituted in 1987 under the African Charter on Human and People's
Rights which was originally promulgated in 1981 by the Eighteenth
Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of
African Unity. Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Charter.
In July 2000, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was superceded
by the establishment of the African Union, through the promulgation
of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. Following the passing
of this Act, the African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights no longer reported to the OAU, but to the Assembly of the
African Union through the Executive Council of Ministers of the
African Union (AU).
One of the main
functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights is to attend to Communications submitted by individuals,
NGOs and States Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights, which allege violations of human rights by the states that
are signatories to the African Charter. This is usually done through
the submission of a Communication, which must follow the formal
procedure laid down in the African Charter.
The African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights was seized with a
Communication submitted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum at
the 31st Ordinary Session in Pretoria, South Africa, in May 2002.
The Communication remains sub-judice with the African Commission
and therefore the Forum will not comment on the Communication.
For some years
prior to the submission of the Forum's Communication, the
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights requested
to undertake a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe, and this was acceded
to by the Zimbabwe Government at the 31st Ordinary Session of the
Commission, in South Africa in May 2002. Article 46 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights gives the African Commission
wide powers in its methods of investigation, and the Commission
had previously undertaken missions to Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire,
Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
Accordingly,
a mission comprised of two Commissioners visited Zimbabwe in June
2002. The mission met with Government officials, agencies, political
parties, farmers and with a wide range of representatives from Zimbabwean
civil society. At the meeting with Zimbabwean civil society organisations,
the Commissioners were provided with the opportunity to meet with
victims of alleged gross human rights violations, as well as being
provided with a large number of reports and other documents by the
members attending.
The report compiled
by the mission was, therefore, based on a broad range of information
available to the Commissioners, and, of course, included their professional
observations. The report was finally submitted to the Commission
for consideration at its 34th Ordinary Session held in Banjul, Gambia,
in November, 2003. The report was adopted by the Commission at this
meeting. It is both incorrect and also insulting to the Commissioners
to suggest that the report was compiled by any member of civil society
in Zimbabwe. Some public statements have been made to this effect
presumably to discredit both the Commission and Civil Society in
Zimbabwe in general.
The protocol involved in dealing with such reports is straight forward,
and would be well-known to the Zimbabwe Government. Following the
adoption of a report, the Secretariat of the Commission would then
forward this to the Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of
State and Government, as specified in Article 54 of the Charter.
It is pertinent
to note that, in January 2004, the Human Rights Forum wrote to the
Secretary of the African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights, requesting information about the status of the report, and
was informed on 5 February 2004 that the report had been forwarded
to the Zimbabwe Government, which would be given the opportunity
to make its comments and that the report would be published together
with the comments of the Government when the relevant processes
had been gone through.
Thus, it is
very difficult to believe that the Zimbabwe Government could possibly
have been ignorant of the report and of the procedures following
a fact-finding mission of the Commission to a member state. It is
also difficult to believe that the Zimbabwe Government was ignorant
of the possible findings, especially in the light of the enormous
number of adverse reports on human rights violations in Zimbabwe
over the past few years.
At the recent
AU Executive Council Meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is
reported to have said that the report of the fact-finding mission
had not been properly presented to the Government of Zimbabwe in
terms of protocol and that the Government had still to respond to
it. Could this have been construed as an attempt to delay consideration
of the report until the next AU Summit, by which time its impact
and effect might have been eroded, particularly in the context of
the critically important General Elections in March 2005 and the
strong positive relationship between organized violence and torture
and elections?
Here we would
emphasis one of the conclusions of the Johannesburg Symposium of
members of Zimbabwean civil society held in August 2003:
"From
2000 onwards, there have been increasing levels of violence resulting
in pervasive human rights abuses. All available evidence
indicates that the Government has engaged in a widespread, systematic,
and planned campaign of organised violence and torture to suppress
normal democratic activities, and to unlawfully influence the
electoral process. The Government has also created, and
the law enforcement agencies have vigorously applied, highly repressive
legislation. These measures were directed at ensuring that the
Government retained power rather than at overcoming resistance
to achieving equitable land redistribution and correcting historical
iniquities."
As the high-lighted section
indicates, the Zimbabwean attendees to the Johannesburg Symposium
clearly agree that crimes against humanity have been perpetrated
since 2000, and this is one of the very few reasons for the AU to
consider direct action against a member state of the AU.
In the light of the seriousness
of the Zimbabwe situation, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum makes
a number of calls.
To the
African Union:
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum thus calls upon the AU to ensure
that this report receives the fullest possible attention as soon
as possible.
To
the Member States of the African Union:
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum calls upon the member States
of the AU to request an extra-ordinary meeting of the Executive
Council in order to consider both reports of the African Commission
on Human and Peoples' Rights and the general situation in
Zimbabwe.
To the
Government of Zimbabwe:
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum repeats its call of the Johannesburg
Symposium:
- That there
be an immediate end to political violence and intimidation, an
immediate disbanding of the militia, and an immediate return to
non-partisan police, army and intelligence services and non-selective
application of the law;
- that there
be an immediate repeal of all repressive legislation and unjust
laws such as the Public Order and Security Act, the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Broadcasting
Services Act; and that charges brought before the repeal of these
laws should be withdrawn and sentences previously imposed be annulled;
- that there
be an immediate opening up of political space, including the immediate
and complete overhaul of electoral laws and institutions to enable
all elections to be held under free and fair conditions;
- that the
economic and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe must be immediately
addressed.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum also wishes to place on record its repugnance at the vilification
of AU member states, the ACHPR, and Commissioners of the ACHPR by
the state-controlled media of Zimbabwe.
(The Government
of Zimbabwe is also requested not to pass the potentially controversial
Non-Governmental Organisations Act).
To African
civil society organizations:
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum calls upon all African civil
society organizations to publicly express solidarity with the African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the decision of
the Executive Council of the African Union to keep the report of
the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights on the
agenda.
The Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum also calls upon African civil society organizations
to exert pressure on their own Governments to ensure that an extra-ordinary
meeting of the Executive Council of the African Union takes place
as soon as possible to discuss the Zimbabwe situation and the report
of the African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights.
Visit the HRForum
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
|
