THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT |ZIMBABWE I 2017 the right to life guaranteed by section 48 (1) of the Non-alignment of domestic laws with the Constitution is absolute and that there must be no Constitution, especially repressive laws such exceptions. The Forum thus monitors respect of as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), human rights in line with the Constitution and the the Access to Information and Protection of regional and international conventions. Privacy Act (AIPPA) that undermine the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms; Other Statutes Failure by the state to prosecute perpetrators Section 47 of the Constitution states that Chapter 4 of human rights violations; of the Constitution does not preclude the existence The conflation of the State and ZANU-PF of other rights and freedoms that maybe recognized institutions leading to abuse of state resource or conferred by law, to the extent that they are for party business; consistent with the Constitution. As such, the Forum Complete disregard of the law by the local makes use of any other relevant law to monitor the municipalities leading to arbitrary eviction protection, respect and fulfillment of any such rights resulting in malicious damage to property and as may be conferred by such laws and standards. internal displacements; The capture of State institutions; International Obligations Disregard by the State for the rule of law and Zimbabwe is a member of the United Nations judicial independence; and (UN), the African Union (AU) and the Southern Shrinking space for civil society organisations African Development Community (SADC). Several (CSOs). human rights instruments emanating from these bodies create obligations for Zimbabwe. We use such instruments to monitor adherence and make the necessary recommendations to the Zimbabwe authorities. Factors that contributed to human rights violations The following are factors that directly or indirectly contributed to human rights violations during the year 2017: Succession disputes in the two main political parties, that is, ZANU-PF and the MDC-T which resulted in intra party violence; The Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise. Heal Zimbabwe Trust recorded a total of 5 707 cases of human rights violations centered on the BVR2 ; The ZANU-PF youth interface rallies that were characterized by hate speech and verbal slurs; The 15 November 2017 military coup where several people are alleged to have been tortured, assaulted, harassed and intimidated with no official investigation or statistics; This year the Forum is commemorating 20 years of service to human rights. In this video, the Forum’s founding Chairperson Tony Reeler reflects on this journey. See Heal Zimbabwe Trust’s Biometric Voter Registration- Human rights Violations Report, February 2018, http://www. healzimbabwetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/BVR-Human-Rights-Violations-Report.pdf 2 15