advocated anything but peaceful means of protest.28 In 1998, the Minister of Home Affairs was severely criticised for even justifying the use of lethal force, but, in 2006, the Minister for State Security openly threatens lethal force in advance of any protest.29 Since 1998, the Human Rights Forum and its members have been pressing the government of Zimbabwe for accountability over the actions of its agents and for a restoration of the rule of law. These have not been unjustified demands, as can be seen from this report. The Forum claimed that there had been violations of human rights, and this was supported by the reports in the press, the research undertaken by the Forum itself, and even by the Zimbabwean courts. There has been no credible response by the government, not even to the UN Human Rights Committee. Since 1998, the human rights climate has deteriorated even further: if ordinary citizens cannot turn to the state for protection or redress of their wrongs, and, if the state is oblivious to its international obligations, to whom can they turn? 28 Here it is relevant to point out that the last large demonstration by Zimbabwean citizens, the Peace March in April 2000, was violently broken up by government supporters with very little attempt made by the police to protect them. See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, The Unleashing of Violence: A Report on Violence against Peaceful Protestors in Harare (Harare: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, 2000). 29 Following an earlier statement (which he later denied), Minister of State Security Didymus Mutasa stated, ‘Organs of security are there to maintain security and no sane government in this world will keep its security organs in the camps while some mischievous elements destabilise the country, even threatening to remove a democratically elected government by force.’ ‘Zimbabwe security minister repeats threats to shoot protesters’, Zim Online, 25 April 2006. 23