Human Rights Violations and Psychosocial Consequences for Survivors during the Food Riots This section deals with the cases that were referred to members of the Human Rights Forum, and is based on detailed interviews with all the clients. It reports only on those persons who were assisted by the Human Rights Forum, and thus represents the most accurate detail about the events and the effects of the Food Riots. As will be seen, the data on the medical assessment of these people corroborated all the information gathered from the interviews in Mabvuku, and shed considerable doubt upon claims that there were no human rights violations perpetrated during the disturbances. Furthermore, most of the persons reported upon in this section instituted claims for damages against either the ZNA or the ZRP, or both. All persons had lengthy interviews with health workers and legal practitioners. Additionally, medical reports were obtained from medical practitioners and physiotherapists, where the clients had seen these personnel. Where possible, witnesses were interviewed and affidavits obtained from them. All these data were compiled in a database, and the following results are derived from this database. Detailing the psychosocial consequences is important when it is considered that the only other official report on the Food Riots, that issued by the ZRP General Headquarters, made no mention of human rights abuses, or even the scale of injuries suffered. It is also important to stress that the cases reported below are only indicative of the kinds of injuries and disorders suffered by survivors, and there are no data to indicate the scale. It would be necessary to carry out a study of clinic records and hospital outpatient records to get a clearer picture of the suffering experienced by ordinary citizens in Zimbabwe. The victims assisted by the Human Rights Forum were drawn from a wide number of the areas affected during the Food Riots, but, as can be seen from Table 5, the breakdown is reflective of the areas in which human rights violations were reported, or where the violence was reportedly high. The largest number came from Mabvuku and Zengeza. Table 5: Areas from which Food Riots victims were drawn Budiriro Chitungwiza Epworth Kuwadzana Mabvuku Mbare Mufakose Mutoko Seke St Mary’s Sunningdale Tafara Zengeza 2 1 1 1 8 3 3 1 4 1 1 7 8 The press reports indicated that men, women and children were all affected by the violence, and this is again corroborated by the results of the Mabvuku case studies. As can be seen from Table 6, more men than women were affected, and most were young persons (average age 27) as opposed to other groups of survivors. This is not a comment of any consequence, however, and it would be expected that current victims would be young. As also might be expected of a young group, there were a large number of single persons and relatively few widowed or divorced persons. 8