Background The Redress Trust (REDRESS) is an international human rights organisation with a mandate to assist torture survivors seek justice and reparation. Its national and international programmes are aimed at ensuring that the rights of torture survivors, whoever they are, and wherever they are located, are realised in practice. REDRESS continues to actively follow the situation in Zimbabwe. Over the past few years, it has published a number of reports on the prevalence of torture in Zimbabwe and the prospects for Zimbabwean victims to obtain justice 1 and reparation nationally and internationally. This current Report follows on from previous ones, and looks particularly at the patterns of torture and other forms of organised violence over the past three years, and the strong correlation they have with elections. A consistent picture of torture and other serious violations of human rights in Zimbabwe during the last four years is beginning to emerge from the many 2 reports recently published. The crisis in Zimbabwe reflected in these reports has resulted in a number of responses from the international community. These have ranged from the exclusion of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth Ministerial Councils, suspension of foreign assistance (apart from humanitarian assistance), and targeted personal sanctions against high-ranking members of the Zimbabwe Government. However, opprobrium about the crisis in Zimbabwe has not been universal and a number of countries continue to hold cordial relations with the Zimbabwe Government while maintaining that the human rights violations are exaggerated and a consequence of the unpopular (with the West) land reforms of the Zimbabwe Government. This divided position has undoubtedly led to human rights violations not being accorded the serious attention they deserve. 1 See, for example, Zimbabwe: From Impunity to Accountability: Are Reparations Possible for Victims of Gross and Systematic Human Rights Violations?, March 2004; The Case of Henry Dowa: The United Nations and Zimbabwe Under the Spotlight, January 2004; and Reparation for Torture: A Survey of Law and Practice in 30 Selected Countries (Zimbabwe Country Report), May 2003. These reports are available on REDRESS’ website at: http://www.redress.org/country_zimbabwe.html. 2 See for example, reports from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). 1