CHAPTER 14 COURTS AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE: THE BULWARK AGAINST TYRANNY “Judges are charged with the ultimate decision over life, freedoms, rights, duties and property of citizens.” - Preamble, United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary (1985) Access to courts and justice are indispensable for the creation of a culture of human rights. Human rights on paper are not self-executing; rather, they rely on robust judiciaries that bring to life those human rights provisions in international and regional treaties, in national constitutions and legislation, and in common law principles. Rights are meaningless without remedies, and because the courts are the ones invested with the constitutional powers to try matters, civil and criminal, and to pronounce remedies, they become not only key but indispensable in enforcing and protecting human rights. Importantly, courts are the guardians of the Constitution and the rule of law. Lack of legal awareness, costs of accessing legal services, location of courts, limited government-funded legal aid, corruption and compromised judicial and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) independence are some of the challenges that clogged access to courts and justice in 2018. were 50 circuit courts in total. Of those, 16 circuit courts were not sitting; and 2 were not functional. But circuit courts only sat on limited days, with some sitting only day a week. The JSC made some strides in setting up a new Regional Court in Bulilima district, which prior to that sat in Bulawayo. A second Regional Court is slated for Guruve Court in 2019. The JSC appointed 60 new magistrates whilst the NPA seconded over 200 public prosecutors. Although a progressive move on the part of the JSC and the NPA, given the court backlog, limited training of these officials saw some irregularities in the way cases were handled. Access to Courts Five years into the 2013 Constitution, Parliament was yet to pass the Constitutional Court Act as required by the Constitution. Although the Constitutional Court is in operation and rules for the court were gazetted in 2016, there is still need for a Constitutional Court Act which will back the rules, and among other things, create a Constitutional Court Registry. This would enhance access to the court. The decentralisation of the High Courts was augmented with the addition of the Mutare High Court which opened its doors in May 2018 as the fourth permanent High Court in the country after Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo. Out of over 60 administrative districts in the country, Zimbabwe has 55 district courts (Magistrates Courts). Judicial Independence Judges play a critical role in protection of human rights, hence the need for independence. The relationship between judges and human rights is expressly mentioned in the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary. 50 The UN Basic principles assert that “judges are charged with the ultimate decision over life, Of these 55 courts, some courts serve districts that are expansive and have huge populations. Circuits courts were operational in some districts to reach out to people in need of justice. There 50. Adopted by the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held at Milan from 26 August to 6 September 1985 and endorsed by General Assembly resolutions 40/32 of 29 November 1985 and 40/146 of 13 December 1985. 60 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018