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Political
violence report: January 2005
- Overview
Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum
March 29, 2005
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Overview
The month of January 2005 saw a number of assaults on people who
were exercising their constitutional right to freedom of expression,
assembly and association as guaranteed by Section 211
of the Constitution. This right is a fundamental pillar in a democratic
society. Its violation is a great retrogression in terms of democracy
and protection of human rights as enshrined not only in the Constitution
but in regional and international human rights instruments to which
Zimbabwe adheres as well. The Human Rights Forum is deeply concerned
that the trend to violate the right to freedom of expression, association
and assembly, especially as the Parliamentary elections approach,
will lead to the violation of the right to participate freely in
the governance of one's country as enshrined in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights Article 21.2
We emphasized
this right in our Political Violence Report for December 2004 where
comparative figures for the years 2003 and 2004 indicated that this
was the most frequently violated right in both years. The pattern
seems to continue in January 2005. Despite Police Commissioner Chihuri's
declaration that the police would deal with perpetrators of political
violence without fear or favor and across the board, incidents reported
in January 2005 suggest that there is inconsistency in applying
the instruction as between Police Stations.
Totals: 1
January - 31 January 2005
1. Section 21 of the Constitution guarantees every person's "right
to assemble freely and associate with other persons and in particular
to form and belong to political parties"
2. Article 21 of The Universal declaration of Human Rights states
that, "everyone has the right to take part in government of his
country, directly or through freely chosen representatives"
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Human Rights NGO Forum fact
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