the question is: who will guard against abuse of the vast powers possessed by members of law
enforcement agencies?
The report explores these issues by making use of the data collected to date by the Human
Rights NGO Forum.
The main conclusions of the present report are that:
The law enforcement agencies are a major source of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe;
These agencies are being used to help the ruling party, ZANU (PF), to suppress
opposition and retain power;
When these agencies operate in conjunction with the army, there are often increased
levels of brutality;
Statements made by high-ranking members of the ruling party encourage the law
enforcement agencies to perpetrate these abuses and it can be argued that the
widespread abuses are state sponsored or at least condoned;
The protection of the law has in many cases been denied to those considered hostile to
ZANU (PF);
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;
On the other hand, the perpetrators of abuses against these persons have often been
immune from legal responsibility for their actions, and this impunity encourages them to
continue to commit abuses.
Background
Since the Forum’s last report on the police, covering the period up to 2002, the human rights
climate in Zimbabwe has seriously deteriorated, and the behaviour of the law enforcement
agencies has been a significant cause of this deterioration.
The calamitous economic decline that has been experienced in Zimbabwe has pushed growing
numbers of Zimbabweans below the breadline and has badly affected health delivery and other
social services.
Although parliamentary elections in March 2005 were accompanied by less violence than previous
elections, with reported incidents of intimidation and violence being significantly lower in number,
Who guards the guards? Violations by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, 2000 to 2006