Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Pre-session working group – Zimbabwe 13 the police, aimed at discrediting their character. Lawyers in cities across Zimbabwe who have represented women human rights defenders when they are arrested have told Amnesty International that male police officers subject women human rights defenders to sexist verbal abuse. They have reported, for example, that male police officers have used statements such as “I am not here to sleep with you” and “You should go and find husbands instead of wasting time engaging in WOZA things.” Older women are told to “go and practice witchcraft” instead of engaging in activism. Such sexist verbal attacks by police on women human rights defenders while in custody are evidence of the police’s endorsement of negative gender stereotypes and gender discrimination. They insinuate that women human rights defenders have no business becoming active in the public sphere in defence of human rights, because they are women, and because they are perceived as not abiding by stereotypes of what is deemed by society as “appropriate” behaviour for women. Attacks of this kind amount to violence against women and constitute violations of women’s human rights. 4.2 DENIAL OF ACCESS TO TREATMENT FOR WOMEN ACTIVISTS IN DETENTION (ARTICLE 12) Amnesty International is concerned about the systematic denial of access to medical care to detained women’s activists as a form of punishment for engaging in peaceful protest. WOZA activists who are arrested and beaten by police are often denied the medical treatment they need for the injuries sustained while in police custody. In June 2009 while Amnesty International’s Secretary General was holding a press conference in Harare, four WOZA activists, a cameraman from the state-owned Herald newspaper and an independent journalist were arrested and beaten by police about 50 metres from the hotel. The WOZA activists were denied access to medical treatment as a punishment for their activism and detained overnight. The independent journalist and cameraman, both male, were released the same day. Lawyers have told Amnesty International that they have great difficulty in ensuring that detained activists can obtain medical attention. On 6 June 2007, seven members of WOZA were arbitrarily arrested and detained after engaging in a peaceful protest in Bulawayo. The women were reportedly beaten by riot police who were trying to disperse the peaceful protestors. Two of those detained were also reportedly beaten while in police custody. Five of the women were charged under Section 46 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) as read with Section 2(v) of the schedule to the Criminal Code(1) and released on 8 June. The remaining two, WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, were charged under Sections 37 (1a)(2) and 46 (2v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and released on 9 June. One of the women told Amnesty International that whilst she was in custody, several policy officers beat her with baton sticks, including across her breasts. Additionally, police officers had thrown bucket loads of water into the cells each day, forcing them to spend time on wet concrete, despite it being winter in Zimbabwe. The seven women were only given two blankets between them. Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu had no blankets on their last night in custody. None of the activists were able to access medical treatment until they had been released. Index: AFR 46/014/2011 Amnesty International June 2011