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GALZ LGBTI rights violation report 2011
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
August 12, 2012

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Summary and overview

Violent acts and aggravated harassment of individuals suspected of being gay or lesbian are commonplace in Zimbabwe. Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or intersex (LGBTI) are driven from their homes through violence or threats of violence, forcing many to abandon their possessions and become internally displaced—or even seek refuge abroad—on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Zimbabwe's Criminal Law, which explicitly criminalises consensual anal sex between men and which contains ambiguous and over-broad provisions on sexual assault, is used to justify abuse against LGBTI individuals. Extortionists also use the existence of these provisions to demand money or goods in exchange of not releasing real or imagined details of an individual's private life to the public. In a context of entrenched stigmatization of LGBTI individuals, many feel compelled to hand over their possessions rather than risk the often-violent wrath of families, friends, and neighbour.

Victims of abuse and harassment are often too scared to seek protection from the police. In many cases, police officers are themselves instigators of abuse, or contribute to it, either by carrying out extortion schemes, or by subjecting individuals suspected of being gay or lesbian to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including sexual assault, forced strip-searches, non-consensual medical treatment, and death-threats.

Those who work to defend the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals see their rights to freedom of expression and assembly routinely violated, often with reference to nationalism.

Political leaders not only condone these human rights abuses, but many celebrate them as part of Zimbabwean "culture." High-level leaders, including President Robert Mugabe, repeatedly refuse to endorse the repeal of discriminatory legislation and, moreover, fuel public prejudice against LGBTI individuals through public statements that endorse abuse. In doing so, they ignore Zimbabwe's voluntarily undertaken international human rights obligations to protect the rights of everyone under Zimbabwe's jurisdiction without discrimination.

This situation could, to some extent, be remedied by the constitutional reform process initiated in 2011 as the result of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that brought Zimbabwe's two main political parties together in an integrated government after the last - and very contentious - presidential elections. Through this process, the Zimbabwean parliament has the opportunity to bring the constitution into compliance with its international human rights obligations and explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

So far, this potential has not been fulfilled, not least because high-level politicians from both major political parties, including President Robert Mugabe and the co-chairs of the Constitution Select Committee, publicly have opposed the inclusion of LGBTI protections in the new constitution.

Zimbabwe's failure to take action to stop human rights abuses against LGBTI individuals committed by state agents, to take measures to protect against abuses by state and private actors, and to protect and promote the ability of Zimbabweans to peacefully organise and assemble in defence of their human rights, violate its obligations as a state party to regional and international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) calls upon Zimbabwe to live up to its international human rights obligations by including LGBTI representatives in the constitutional process; by explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the new constitution; by repealing all laws criminalising or punishing consensual adult sex, including between members of the same sex; and by investigating and punishing abuse and violence directed at individuals because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. GALZ also calls on Zimbabwe's government to ensure that the criminal justice system is not used to target or harass LGBTI organizations, their staff, and the lawyers who represent and support them, and that these organizations, their staff, and lawyers can carry out their work in defence of human rights without fear of reprisal or intimidation.

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