Table 1: Violations directly experienced by children – 2001 to 2008 2001 Abduction Assault Detention Displaced Rape Separated Threatened Tortured Totals: Percentage: 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 7 9% 2002 1 0 0 4 0 1 1 0 7 9% 2003 1 1 0 4 0 8 1 1 15 18% 2004 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 4% 2005 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 4 5% 2006 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 7% 2007 0 4 5 0 0 0 0 4 9 11% 2008 0 1 2 21 1 0 3 3 31 38% Totals 4 (5%) 14 (17%) 12 (15%) 32 (39%) 3 (4%) 10 (12%) 6 (7%) 1 (1%) 82 Additionally, it can be seen that the highest number of violations is recorded for 2008, which is also the worst election in Zimbabwe’s history, but the second highest rate was recorded in 2003 which was not an election year. 2003 was, however, the year in which the so-called “Final Push” was initiated by the MDC11, and this led to very strong repression by the government. It is evident, and shown by the case given as illustrative, that children are generally not the primary victims in the violence, but can easily become victims in the violence that is inflicted on their families: this is described in more detail in the section below (section 6.3). On the day in question, it is alleged that the victim, an MDC member heard people knocking and shouting loudly at his house asking him to come out. Before the victim could answer the, assailants allegedly broke down the door. The victim was reportedly dragged to the assailants‟ car (light green Nissan Skyline) and forced inside. The assailants who were visibly drunk and holding bottles of beer claimed to be plain - clothes police officers. The victim tried to run away from the purported police officers but one of them fired three warning shots. The victim identified one of the assailants as a war veteran who is also a member of the St Mary‟s Neighbourhood Watch Committee based at St Mary‟s Police Station. On the same day, a couple that are members of the MDC and WOZA were assaulted by armed men who claimed to be police officers on the day in question. It is alleged that the men broke down the couple‟s door and dragged the husband out where they assaulted him. The assailants then forced the victim into their car but he refused and ran away. The assailants then returned to the house where they kicked and slapped the wife who had been left behind. The same assailants returned to the victims‟ house on 14 April and further assaulted the woman after she failed to tell them the whereabouts of her husband. Moreover, the assailants slapped the couple‟s three-year-old daughter before they left. The child suffered a laceration on her lip. Table 2 indicates the frequency with which violations were directly witnessed, as opposed to experienced, by children. The pattern is, unsurprisingly, similar to the pattern seen with direct experiencing: 2008 and 2003 are the worst years, but assault (36%) is the highest category of violation. However, property destruction replaces displacement as the second highest category of violation, but is undoubtedly associated with displacement. 11 This was an initiative headed by the MDC in which citizens were encouraged to undertake mass civil disobedience: it culminated in a five-day stay away that was supposed to end in citizens massing in central Harare. 9