Ÿ Ÿ Environmental protection – The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance - Zimbabwe signed and approved the Ramsar Convention, which came into effect in Zimbabwe on 3 May 2013. The Convention which was adopted on 2 February 1971 seeks to protect wetlands. Zimbabwe currently has 7 sites d e s i g n a t e d a s We t l a n d s o f I n t e r n a l Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 453,828 hectares. For fuller protection of wetlands which have been rapidly disappearing in Zimbabwe, the country must domesticate the Convention to ensure that protective mechanisms in the Convention are effectuated. of the UN Convention on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Protocol. The deplorable practice of enforced disappearances has not been criminalised as a standalone crime in Zimbabwe. But added to that, the government rejected a recommendation made by other UN member states encouraging Zimbabwe to ratify the Convention for the Protection of all Persons Against Enforced Disappearances. This recommendation was made since 2011, and again in March 2017 during the UN Human Rights Council-led Universal Periodic Review Mechanism sessions. Zimbabwe has seen some abductions and disappearances, including high profile ones such as those involving Paul Chizuze, Patrick Nabanyana and Itai Dzamara in 2000, 2012 and 2015, respectively. Torture has also been frequently used by the country’s security forces. Abductions and disappearance - United Nations Convention for the Protection of all Persons Against Enforced Disappearances and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Protocol - The government is yet to ratify, domesticate and fully implement provisions 71 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018