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African
Commission must urgently tackle Zimbabwe torture
Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum
May 25, 2007
Visit
the special index page on the mistreatment of the legal profession
in Zimbabwe
http://www.redress.org/news/PressStatementZimbabweMay07.pdf
REDRESS, the
international NGO working to obtain justice and reparation for torture
survivors, today calls on the African Commission for Human and Peoples'
Rights (ACHPR) to firmly address Zimbabwe's torture record, which
is rapidly spiraling out of control.
Recently, human rights
lawyers in particular have been targeted, including Zimbabwe Law
Society President Ms Beatrice Mtetwa who earlier this month was
severely beaten by police when she and other human rights defenders
were participating in a peaceful protest outside the Harare High
Court.
"This blatant and
public attack puts torture into the spotlight and cannot be ignored,"
said Carla Ferstman, REDRESS' Director.
Ms. Mtetwa and her colleagues
are the latest victims of an alarming new trend of violence.
Starting in March 2007,
we have seen the open serious assaults on high profile MDC leaders
including Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as the abduction and torture
of students, trade unionists and journalists. Beatings and other
forms of torture are no longer only taking place behind closed doors
but are now deliberately unleashed in public.
The ACHPR is well placed
to act and must send a clear message that torture is unacceptable
in all circumstances.
The latest trend
must be seen in the context of the deteriorating human rights situation
over the last decade. In a recent Report produced by REDRESS and
four other leading international human rights organizations - ZIMBABWE:
Human Rights in Crisis - REDRESS analyses the endemic nature
of torture in Zimbabwe and shows how torture survivors have little
if any realistic prospect of obtaining reparations under the present
regime:
"The Zimbabwe Government
continues to be responsible for widespread and systematic human
rights violations, including torture, and there is little sign of
either a decline in violations or of any serious action to investigate
allegations and prosecute offenders" said REDRESS' Director.
"There have been numerous reports of victims who have tried
to report an abuse to the police, only to be detained and further
abused by the police themselves," she said.
The REDRESS chapter includes
several high-profile case studies where torture survivors were subjected
to severe beatings, electric shocks, water immersion, or falanga,
including journalists, opposition activists (grass-roots workers
as well as an MP and human rights lawyer) and even Zanu-PF supporters
involved in factional disputes.
Background
The Report ZIMBABWE:
Human Rights in Crisis, was submitted this month as a Shadow Report
to the ACHPR meeting in Ghana from 16-30 May 2007, in response to
Zimbabwe lodging its first periodic State Party report on the status
of human rights protection to the Commission since 1996. The fact
that five international human rights organisations have come together
to produce this Shadow Report illustrates the gravity of abuse,
contrary to the view of the Zimbabwe Government in its State Party
report that it has shown commitment to the development and protection
of human rights. In seeking to ensure that all the information gathered
is made available to the ACHPR to determine the status of human
rights violations in Zimbabwe in the last ten years, the Shadow
Report addresses the following key areas: Human rights violations
during the land ownership reform programme and Operation
Murambatsvina (the forcible clearing of slums) (Human Rights
Watch); Attacks on the rule of law (International Bar Association);
Torture and ill treatment (REDRESS); Violation of the rights of
freedom of association and assembly (Amnesty International);Violations
of the right of freedom of expression (ARTICLE 19).
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