An indictment for Crimes Against Humanity can be brought if any or more of the following can be demonstrated: Murder; Extermination; Enslavement; Deportation or forcible transfer of population; Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rule of international law; Torture; Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law; Enforced disappearance of persons; The crime of apartheid; Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. Furthermore these abuses must have taken place outside of obvious war, against a civilian population, and be either widespread or systematic, or both. As will be seen below, the evidence shows clearly that such violations have taken place on a very large scale since 2000, and, in addition, they have been geographically very widespread.. This monograph will establish the existence of systematic torture, and demonstrate its widespread application. It is necessary to establish the existence of systematic and widespread torture, for, whilst any clear case of torture will demonstrate that the Convention Against Torture has been violated, it is necessary to show that torture has taken place on a widespread or systematic scale to bring these crimes within the purview of the Rome Statute as crimes against humanity. Here it will be seen that the violations since 2000 are both widespread, both geographically and in the types of perpetrators involved, and, furthermore, that the violations are systematic in that they are significantly more frequent at times of elections, and not perpetrated in a manner that suggests inter-party political violence. Thus, this monograph will focus upon two related issues, with particular emphasis on 2008. Firstly, can it be established that there are credible reports of torture and other gross human rights violations, and, secondly, are these reports widespread and systematic? Widespread can have two meanings. In the first meaning, widespread can be taken to mean “geographically” widespread; that is, occurring in many different places in the country. In the second sense, it can mean applied by many different agencies, and, here, it refers to the widespread use of torture by many different government agencies – police, army, etc - and government-affiliated bodies – politicians, party supporters, etc. Both meanings will be examined here against some of the available data. In either sense, the implication can only be that the violations have taken place with the active consent or the condonation of the Government, and hence both acts of commission or omission can render the Government liable. As regards systematic, does the pattern of violations suggest some form of plan by the perpetrators and those responsible for the violators? Here it would be crucial to show that the targets of the violence are a specific group in Zimbabwe, suggesting some form of persecution. It would also be significant if the pattern was temporally specific, such as occurring predominantly during elections. If the violations can be shown to be both widespread and systematic, then, as the Human Rights Forum has argued3, an allegation can be made that these constitute crimes against humanity. Thus this report, using the publicly available reports, will examine to what extent such an allegation can be sustained. 3 Page 2 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2008), Damned Lies? Post Election Violence in Zimbabwe. Report produced by the Research & Advocacy Unit. August 2008. HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM.