The Ministry was seen as not too keen to facilitate domestication of the UNCRPD. President Emmerson Mnangagwa made promises to domesticate the Convention in the 2018-2019 Parliamentary sitting. That is a promise yet to be fulfilled. Specific Cases Ÿ The government is yet to domesticate the UNCRPD which it ratified in 2013. The application of the Convention has immense implications for removal of barriers, equalisation of opportunities and disability inclusion. Domestication would open avenues for recourse for non-compliance via the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Ÿ There is a Disability Policy under construction, currently in its third draft form. The Policy has not been finalised yet. The process of developing the Policy has been long drawn. The Committee on the Review of the Disability Policy, working under the National Disability Board, is driving the process. The non-finalisation of the Policy meant that the Disabled Persons Act continued unsupported by formal policies and implementation strategies. Ÿ With the Convention approach in mind, disability legislation in Zimbabwe which must be aligned to the Constitution, include the following: the Disabled Persons Act [Chapter 17:01], the Mental Health Act [Chapter 15:12], the State Services (Disability Benefits) Act [Chapter 16:05], the Social Welfare Assistance Act [Chapter 17:06], the War Victims Compensation Act [Chapter 11:06], the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23], the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07], and the Geneva Conventions Act [Chapter 11:06]. Many of protections guaranteed in the Convention are lacking in the statutes. The bulk of these laws still use pejorative terms like “imbecile”, “idiocy”, “mentally disordered”, “intellectually handicapped” and “mental patients” that disempower, demean, degrade, belittle, stigmatise and devalue PWDs. Ÿ Voter education in 2018 left out people with hearing impairments. The Deaf Zimbabwe Trust registered concern over the failure by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to come up with sign language syllabi, yet sign language is an official language in terms of section 6 of the Constitution. Ÿ NASCOH reported that access to justice in courts was compromised for persons with hearing disabilities due to a lack of sign language interpreters. Persons with disabilities living in rural settings faced even greater challenges. In Bindura, a case of rape involving a minor complainant initially failed to kick off because no one other than the child's mother could interpret the sign language of the child. Ÿ There was no comprehensive and up-to-date database of PWDs kept by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. Such a database would be instrumental in informing disability programming and intervention needs by both government and non-state actors. 48 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018