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Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act (Chapter10:30) Act 2/2012
Parliament of Zimbabwe
October 12, 2012

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ACT

AN ACT to provide for the procedure of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission; to provide for the appointment of the Deputy Chairperson, Executive Secretary and staff of the Commission; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing.

WHEREAS section 100R of the Constitution provides as follows:

100R Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission

(1) There is a commission to be known as the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission which shall consist of—

a chairman who has been qualified for at least five years to practise as a legal practitioner and who is appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders; and eight other Commissioners, at least four of whom shall be women, appointed by the President from a list of sixteen nominees submitted by the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders.

(2) If the appointment of a chairman of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission is not consistent with any recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission in terms of subsection (1)(a), the President shall cause the Senate to be informed as soon as practicable.

(3) Persons appointed to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission shall be chosen for their knowledge of and experience in the promotion of social justice or the protection of human rights and freedoms.

(4) A Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission shall, before entering upon his or her office, take and subscribe before the President or some person authorised by the President in that behalf the oath of office in the forms set out in Schedule 1.

(5) The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission shall have the following functions —

(a) to promote awareness of and respect for human rights and freedoms at all levels of society;

(b) to promote the development of human rights and freedoms;

(c) to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in Zimbabwe;

(d) to recommend to Parliament effective measures to promote human rights and freedoms;

(e) to investigate the conduct of any authority or person, where it is alleged that any of the rights in the Declaration of Rights has been violated by that authority or person; and
(f) to assist the Minister responsible for the Act of Parliament referred to in subsection (8) to prepare any report required to be submitted to any regional or international body constituted or appointed for the purpose of receiving such reports under any human rights convention, treaty or agreement to which Zimbabwe is a party.

(6) The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission may require any person, body, organ, agency or institution whether belonging to or employed by the State, a local authority or otherwise, to provide the Commission annually with such information as it may need for the purpose of preparing and submitting any report required to be submitted to any regional or international body constituted or appointed for the purpose of receiving such reports under any human rights convention, treaty or agreement to which Zimbabwe is a party.

(7) The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission shall have power —

to take over and continue any investigation that has been instituted by the Public Protector in terms of section 108(1), where it determines that the dominant question in issue involves a matter pertinent to its function referred to in subsection (5)(e); or

refer to the Public Protector for investigation in terms of section 108(1) any matter in respect of which it determines that the dominant question in issue involves a matter pertinent to the functions of the Public Protector.

(8) An Act of Parliament may confer power on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission —
to conduct investigations on its own initiative or on receipt of complaints;

to visit and inspect prisons, places of detention, refugee camps and related facilities in order to ascertain the conditions under which inmates are kept there, and to make recommendations regarding those conditions to the Minister responsible for administering the law relating to those places or facilities;

to visit and inspect places where mentally disordered or intellectually handicapped persons are detained under any law in order to ascertain the conditions under which those persons are kept there, and to make recommendations regarding those conditions to the Minister responsible for administering the law relating to those places; and

to secure and provide appropriate redress for violations of human rights and for injustice.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it enacted by the President and the Parliament of Zimbabwe as follows —

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