Inter-Ministerial Committee on Ratification and Domestication of Treaties resident in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. Ÿ and respect for human rights premised upon the supremacy of the constitution and respect for the rule of law. President Mnangagwa signed the African Charter for Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) in March 2018 on his visit to Rwanda for the AU Heads of States meeting. But this Charter has not been ratified and domesticated. The Charter was adopted in 2007 and came into force in 2012 after obtaining the requisite 15 ratifications. All but two SADC countries have now signed the Charter, the two being Botswana and Tanzania. Pertinently, the government under President Mugabe had repeatedly and consistently stated that it would never sign the Charter because it was “Western and Western-imposed”. There is even reflected in correspondence between the government and the AU on this aspect. An interesting anecdote is that disgruntled members of the ruling party wrote to the AU and to SADC in December 2017 seeking to invoke provisions of the Charter following the events of November 2017 that led to the removal of President Mugabe. Ÿ Disability rights protection – United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities - The CRPD is the first and most comprehensive international instruments providing for a full catalogue of rights and protections afforded to people with disabilities. The Convention sets out rights, benchmarks, duties and enforcement mechanisms. Zimbabwe ratified the CRPD and its Optional Protocol on 23 September 2013, thereby becoming the 135th state party to ratify the Convention and its Optional Protocol. The CRPD has been the most swiftly ratified international treaty internationally. Over 90% of the total membership of the United Nations has ratified, together with the European Union. Zimbabwe is however yet to domesticate the Convention. Domesticating the Convention will provide a legal tool through which to enforce comprehensive protection of the rights of people with disabilities, formulate policy, and to enforce compliance where duties and responsibilities are abdicated. Other challenges include the following double standards shown by government and lack of political will – with the government showing commitment to rights internationally, but acting otherwise domestically; cost of domestication (financial and otherwise in both the domestication and the implementation processes); and the lack of prioritisation within cabinet and parliamentary systems. Conventions and treaties that Zimbabwe is yet to ratify and domesticate Ÿ Ÿ Children’s rights – Third Optional Protocol to the UNCRC on a Communications Procedure - The UNCRC and the ACRWC have been largely domesticated in the Constitution and across various child protection statutes. The two optional protocols to the UNCRC were also ratified by the government. However, there are still some gaps which require attention. In 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure. The protocol provides for an enforcement mechanism and procedure that seeks to ensure that where there is a violation of the Convention, remedial action is attained at the earliest possible time. This is achieved by opening up for non-state actors, including individuals and children themselves, to refer cases to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Optional protocol also allows a state party to raise issues of non-compliance by another state party to the Committee directly. There is thus a peer-watch mechanism introduced. Elections and democracy - African Charter for Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) - The African Charter on Democracy Elections and Governance seeks to promote adherence by African states to the universal values and principles of democracy 70 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018