survivors and leaves out critical areas of the Commission’s mandate as outlined in section 252 of the
Constitution. According to the Minimum Standards for an Effective National Peace and Reconciliation
Commission (NTJWG, 2015: 4), it is important that adequate protection mechanisms be put in place for
victims and survivors. Standard 4 emphasises that the NPRC must adopt a victim centred approach and
prioritise the needs of the victims. This minimum standard can only be achieved through a deliberate
process of creating safeguards within the law for adequate protection of victims and survivors as well as
reaching to and encouraging victims to be willing to approach the Commission and feel safe in the process.
It is therefore imperative that a separate section on Victim Support and Rehabilitation be inserted into the
Bill.
Why is there a need for a victim support and rehabilitation section in the new Bill?
Generally the section must, among other principles, oblige the Commission to develop comprehensive
regulations to support victims and survivors. This includes:
Establishing a Victim Support and Rehabilitation Committee,
taking appropriate measures to reach out to victims and survivors
offering assistance in the aftermath of victim and torture,
facilitating the provision of rehabilitation facilities including medical treatment, counselling services
and general accompaniment for victims who interact with the Commission,
taking steps aimed at the restoration of the human and civil dignity of victims in line with the
mandate given to the Commission in section 252 (e) and (j),
taking appropriate measures aimed at safely identifying victims and victim communities , and provide
victims an opportunity, in public or private, to relate their own accounts of the violations or harm
they have suffered and to clearly set out their needs and document their experiences as part of a
national truth-telling, recovery and acknowledgment process,
assessing the needs of victims and victim communities and make recommendations which may
include urgent interim measures for reparations and relief measures or any other measures aimed at
rehabilitating and restoring the human and civil dignity of individual victims or victim communities,
taking appropriate steps to provide protective, legal, psycho-social and logistical support services to
victims during the periods in which victims are involved in activities of the Commission.
A comprehensive set of principles on victim centeredness has since been submitted together with the main
analysis to the Parliament. The main report is available from NTJWG secretariat on request.
In what way does the new Bill allow for interference with the Commission?
Ministerial Certificate
Firstly, the ministerial certificate is in itself an interference with the Commission. The Bill’s invocation of state
security in trying to curtail the work of a Commission that is meant to encourage truth-telling regarding the
past is a worrying affront to section 252 (c) of the Constitution which mandates the Commission to bring
about national reconciliation by encouraging people to tell the truth about the past and facilitating the
making of amends and the provision of justice. This mandate given to the Commission is a positive step
towards the realisation of the right to access of information enshrined in section 62 of the Constitution
which states that every Zimbabwean citizen has the right of access to any information held by the State or by
any institution or agency of government at every level, in so far as the information is required in the
interests of public accountability.
Staffing
Section 13 of the new Bill provides for the establishment of the Secretariat of the Commission ‘in
consultation’ with the Minister and the Minister responsible for Finance.’ This is in violation of section 234
of the Constitution which gives the NPRC power to recruit and regulate its own staff. It is also in violation
of section 235 of the Constitution which upholds the independence of all Chapter 12 Commissions. The
NTJWG Minimum Standards state that the NPRC must be allowed to develop its own recruitment policy for
its secretariat. It further states that it will be a violation of the NPRC’s constitutional independence for any
organ of the state or another body to try to influence who will serve the Secretariat of the NPRC.
NTJWG Fact Sheet on the NPRC Bill, H.B.2. 2017
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