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Zimbabwe: An assessment of human rights violations in the run-up to the March 2005 parliamentary elections
Amnesty International
March 15, 2005

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr460032005

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Introduction
For the past five years, elections in Zimbabwe have been characterized by an escalation in human rights violations.¹ These violations take place before, during and after elections. The majority of victims are members and supporters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), including opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) and opposition candidates. The perpetrators have largely been supporters of the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and members of the security forces.

Amnesty International researchers have been monitoring the human rights environment in Zimbabwe as the country approaches the 31 March parliamentary elections. Although there are fewer reports of politically-motivated violence than has been the case in previous elections, Amnesty International is concerned that human rights are being systematically violated in the context of election campaigning. The organization is also concerned by the level of non-violent intimidation and harassment that is taking place in the country. This briefing paper is a summary of Amnesty International's major concerns.

The human rights backdrop to the elections
Amnesty International's human rights concerns in respect of the 31 March elections cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader human rights context in Zimbabwe. Key elements of this broader context include:

• The past five years have been characterized by a serious deterioration in the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, with widespread and credible reports of state-sponsored intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture and attacks on supporters of the political opposition, human rights defenders and the independent media.
• Repressive laws that violate freedom of expression, association, assembly and information remain in place. These include the 2002 Public Order and Security Act and the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, both of which the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has recommended should be amended so as to be brought in line with international human rights law.² Two new laws - the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act and the - as yet unsigned - NGO Act also contain provisions which restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and information.³
• Zimbabwe's crisis over the rule of law, triggered by repeated flouting of court orders, harassment of judicial officers and politicization of the police service, remains unresolved. A culture of impunity persists as thousands of victims of human rights violations have been deprived of the protection of the law and denied access to an effective remedy.

Zimbabwe is State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR). Zimbabwe has also endorsed the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, which include commitments to ensuring the full participation of citizens in the political process; freedom of association; political tolerance; equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for; and the independence of the judiciary.⁴

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1 See Amnesty International documents since 2000: http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-zwe/index
2 African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 17th Annual Activity Report, Annex II,
Executive summary of the report of the fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe 24th to 28th June 2002
3 For a human rights critique of the proposed NGO Act see, amongst others: Amnesty International,
"NGO Act is a gross violation of human rights", 10 December 2004, AI Index: AFR 46/039/2004;
International Bar Association, "Analysis of the Zimbabwe Non-governmental Organizations Bill,
2004", 24 August 2004; Human Rights Watch, "Proposed law on NGOs would violate basic rights", 4
September 2004; Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, "Zim NGO Bill: Dangerous for human rights
defenders", July 2004; Parliament of Zimbabwe, "Parliamentary Legal Committee adverse report on
the NGO Bill [H.B. 13, 2004]", 9 November 2004. For a human rights critique of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission Act, see: Human Rights Watch, "Zimbabwe: Electoral Bill fails to meet
benchmarks", 25 November 2004.
4 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Principles and Guidelines Governing
Democratic Elections, 2004.

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