For these persons the law enforcement agencies have become an instrument of violence against them rather than an institution that offers them protection. They live in fear of the very agencies that are supposed to protect them. The Human Rights Forum has received over 20,000 reports of gross human rights violations since July 2001 [see Appendix 2]. The prevalence of human rights abuses is also supported by the various criminal cases and civil suits, and by the cases reported to human rights groups and reported by the media. Additionally there must be many cases in which the persons who have suffered violations do not report out of fear or for other reasons. The prevalence of violations creates a general climate of fear in the wider community. It is also the case that public confidence in the Zimbabwe Republic Police has dramatically weakened, with a majority of Zimbabweans believing that they will not receive appropriate assistance from the police and that they believe that the police have become corrupt.51 On the other hand, many of the perpetrators of these abuses remain immune from legal responsibility for their actions and this impunity encourages them to continue to commit abuses.52 Presidential amnesties have been granted to some of these perpetrators, such as those who benefited from the amnesty granted in 2000.53 Even where no such legal immunity has been granted, the failure to bring perpetrators to book gives them de facto immunity. No case illustrates this better than the notorious case of Joseph Mwale, who has yet to put on trial for his alleged involvement in the brutal murder of two MDC members several years ago. The failure to investigate the allegations of human rights violations by Henry Dowa is another case in point. 54 Instead of denying that any such abuses are taking place, and accusing the human rights organisations of fabricating these, the government should properly investigate all these allegations and, where they are found to have substance, ensure that the perpetrators are brought before the courts. It is relevant to point out here that the constitutional obligation of the government is not merely to desist from unlawful actions, but also to ensure that they do not take place: omission is as blameworthy as commission. The violations of human rights by the Zimbabwe Republic Police require a strong and positive response from the Zimbabwe government, and here the Human Rights Forum can only repeat its recommendations of 2003: 51 See again Afrobarometer (2005), Popular Reactions to State Repression: Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe, Working Paper No. 59. 52 See Amnesty International The Toll of Impunity (London June 2002) 53 See for example, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2000), Report on Pre-election Political Violence in Mberengwa, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM. 54 See Redress, The Case of Henry Dowa: The United Nations and Zimbabwe under the Spotlight, January 2004 (London: Redress Trust, 2004), 4. Who guards the guards? Violations by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, 2000 to 2006