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Commemorating
International Women's Day
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
March 12, 2007
2007 marks the
30th anniversary of International Women’s Day. In 1977,
the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution inviting
member states to observe a UN day for women’s rights and international
peace – 8 March. This year the Human Rights Forum joins the whole
world and all progressive women in Zimbabwe in celebrating the United
Nations International Women’s Day whose theme is Ending Impunity
for Violence against Women and Girls. We understand the term
impunity as a concept wherein those that perpetrate human rights
abuses are not held to account or are somehow held to be ‘above
the law’.
Women’s Rights
and Zimbabwe’s International Obligations
Women
and girls’ rights to be free from violence are enshrined in various
human rights treaties. Under these treaties, some of the rights
to which women and girls are entitled include: life, liberty and
security of person; freedom form torture and cruel, degrading or
inhuman treatment or punishment. In line with its international
obligations, Zimbabwe ratified the Convention on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1991. Zimbabwe is
also party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
which in article 18 calls on all member states to ensure the protection
of the rights of women in Africa. The Human Rights Forum commends
the government of Zimbabwe for signing the Domestic
Violence Bill into law although the Human Rights Forum is concerned
that the law does not specifically protect women against politically
motivated gender violence. Zimbabwe has not yet ratified the Optional
Protocol to CEDAW, which gives individuals the right to take
complaints to the United Nations. Moreover, Zimbabwe has signed
and not yet ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on the
Rights of Women in Africa, which supplements and gives effect
to the provisions protecting women’s rights in the African Charter.
Political Participation
Political
participation of women in decision - making and governance is an
important human rights issue. Women have the right to participate
fully at all levels of political, civic and community life. The
1997 SADC Gender and Development Declaration, to which Zimbabwe
is signatory, upholds the status of women making posts in politics
and the public service and sets a target of 50% for full participation
by women by 2015. Out of Zimbabwe’s 150 Parliamentarians, only 24
are women. In the revived Senate there are 22 out of 66 women. Of
the 53 Ministers in Government only 4 are women. Of Zimbabwe’s ten
Provincial Governors, only two are women. The Government of Zimbabwe
has not ensured the active participation of women in politics.
Politically
Motivated Violence Against Women
In the
Monthly Political Violence Reports produced by the Human Rights
Forum it is evident that over the years various rights affecting
women in Zimbabwe have been violated in situations that were politically
motivated ranging from sexual torture, the threat of the act of
rape itself, assault, torture and freedom of expression and association.
The Human Rights Forum has been operating a database wherein information
on human rights violations has been collated. In 2001, there were
75 women whose rights were violated in Zimbabwe, 151 in 2002; 217
in 2003; 229 in 2004; 154 in 2005 and 259 in 2006. The incidents
of violence were most frequent during the election years of 2000,
2002 and 2005. The coincidence of the frequency of violations over
this period suggests a clear correlation with elections, thus supporting
what is often overtly stated by the violators, that the gender –
based violence is politically motivated. However, 2006 seems to
have been the worst year in terms of human rights violations and
more particularly politically motivated violations against women.
Impunity
A significant
number of perpetrators of human rights violations against women
have not been arrested or accounted for, thus raising the fear that
they may not be prosecuted or held accountable for the offences.
Since the 1998 food riots, the Human Rights Forum has fought legal
battles in Zimbabwean and international tribunals against perpetrators
of these violations and has won some of the cases. However, the
Human Rights Forum notes with sadness the delays in paying compensation
to the extent that when the compensation is paid it is not enough
to cater for just the bus fare to go and collect it. Furthermore,
some of the perpetrators continue to enjoy de facto and de
jure impunity through police inaction, non-prosecutions, delayed
judgements, amnesties and or pardons, which have effectively frustrated
victims’ efforts to seek justice.
In 2000, after
a period of excessive violence, the government granted a General
Amnesty for politically motivated crimes in the period surrounding
the February 2000 Constitutional Referendum and the June 2000 General
Elections. Clemency Order No. 1 of October 2000 freed from prosecution
perpetrators of politically motivated violence between 1 January
and 31 July 2000 and pardoned those who had been already convicted.
The Clemency Order excluded crimes such as ‘murder, rape, robbery,
indecent assault, statutory rape, theft and possession of arms’.
Persons who committed assault, torture, abduction and arson were
therefore pardoned. The Clemency Order of 2000 was a breach of the
State’s duty to investigate and to guarantee people’s freedom from
such acts.
Remedies
Article
2(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and Article 25(a) of the Protocol to the African Charter on the
Rights of Women obliges states parties to grant an ‘effective
remedy’ to victims in a manner that recognises their worth and dignity
as human beings. Women victims should therefore have access to justice,
compensation and rehabilitation for harm suffered. The Human
Rights Forum notes that whilst, monetary compensation in appropriate
amounts is certainly a part of this duty, the obligation also includes
non – monetary gestures that publicly acknowledge and condemn the
harm done to victims, including an official state apology where
there were shortcomings and failures on the part of the state in
its obligation to protect victims. Compensation available to victims
must be adequate, prompt and proportional to the gravity of the
violation. Rehabilitation, which includes medical, psychological
and other care, should also be part of the remedies. Guarantees
of non - repetition should also exist through systematic enforcement
of the prohibition against torture and elimination of impunity for
all perpetrators. The Human Rights Forum implores the government
of Zimbabwe to ensure that all those who have committed human rights
violations against women in breach of the Zimbabwe Constitution
and international human rights standards and norms, while serving
in any capacity in the police, army, CIO or any other uniformed
forces or state agencies, should not be allowed to continue serving
as members of those agencies.
Of the 298 cases
that the Human Rights Forum has taken to court since 1998 on behalf
of citizens who have suffered abuse at the hands of the state, 68
involved women. The offences that were brought before the courts
mainly consisted of torture, assault and assault (GBH). The Zimbabwe
National Army perpetrated 63% of these abuses against women. The
Zimbabwe Republic Police and alleged ZANU PF supporters perpetrated
the rest. 50% of the cases have been closed and the rest, which
have either been settled out of court or by the courts, are still
to be paid. The Human Rights Forum takes this opportunity to deplore
the serious delay in paying out the agreed sums in the rest of the
judgements. Most of the amounts, which were determined at the time,
have had their value seriously eroded by inflation.
Visit
the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum fact
sheet
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