It should be noted that even if the constitution allows abortion and the imposition of the death penalty, they may be restricted or prohibited by the ordinary law. Right to liberty This right protects people against arbitrary arrest and detention, but should it extend to protection against imprisonment for failure to pay a civil debt? Civil imprisonment is prohibited by article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Zimbabwe is a party. Protection against inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment This protection obviously should be included in a Declaration of Rights, but does it imply prohibition of capital punishment? The South African Constitutional Court said it did, but our Government amended the current constitution to say it didn’t, thereby preventing the Supreme Court from tackling the death penalty issue. Protection against discrimination Again this should be included, but how far should it go? Our current constitution has been amended over the years to extend the grounds on which discrimination is prohibited to cover sex, gender, marital status and physical disability. Should it be extended further, to include sexual orientation? This is controversial in present-day Zimbabwe, but it should be remembered that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires parties [of which Zimbabwe is one] to give equal protection under the law to everyone without any discrimination whatever. Freedom of expression According to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, this freedom is one of the most precious of all human rights. It includes freedom of the press and media, though press and media freedom are often dealt with separately. So important is this freedom to democracy that it should be subjected to minimal restriction, but some modern declarations of rights [for example, the one in the South African Constitution] expressly state that it does not cover “hate speech”. If this freedom were given proper respect in Zimbabwe, crimes such as undermining public confidence in the Police Force or ridiculing the President — if they existed at all — would be difficult to prosecute successfully. Freedom of movement and residence This is an important right, particularly in the light of Zimbabwe’s history of racial segregation. The South African Constitution adds a right to a passport to this right, and the same should be done in our new constitution since a passport is essential for the lawful exercise of the right to freedom of movement. Access to information and right to administrative justice These are relatively new rights, intended to promote governmental transparency and fairness. In a country such as Zimbabwe, whose political processes have always been cloaked in secrecy and where government action has often been arbitrary, it is vital to have these rights enshrined in the Constitution. Political rights These rights encompass the right to join and form political parties and to contest and vote in elections. These rights are generally confined to citizens, though this does not mean that non-citizens should be prohibited from all political activity. A difficult problem, in the case of Zimbabwe, is how to allow members of the Diaspora to enjoy these rights — to which, it should be noted, they are currently entitled. 22