1. An Overview of Human Rights Violations in Zimbabwe In the 126 years since the first occupation of the country that is now Zimbabwe the history is littered with examples of violations of human rights (Sachikonye. 2011). Whilst colonial conquest would not ordinarily be described as a period in which gross human rights violations are committed, it is evident that when seen through the lens of modern human rights law, the early settlement and especially the events that occurred in what was termed the “Shona rebellion”, or alternatively the “First Chimurenga” would today be called human rights violations. The coercive power of the settlers established a basis for political power that remained unchallenged until the 1960s, and the violent resistance to the now-illegal settler state, the “Second Chimurenga”, led finally to the formation of the new state of Zimbabwe. From the early years of settler control until the late 1950s, there was slow opposition to white settler rule, with the country effectively divided into white citizens and black subjects (Mamdani. 1996), and resistance grew mainly from the 1920s onwards. This resistance was mostly peaceful and directed at demands for greater inclusion and participation, and mostly from the miniscule African middle class (Bratton. 2014). However, the demands became more strident and assertive, and the coercive power of the state was increasingly used against workers, protesters and the rapidly developing African political parties (Sachinkonye. 2011). This was exacerbated by the removal from political power of the liberals led by Garfield Todd, and the movement towards increasingly uncompromising white supremacy thereafter. The period was marked by the promulgation of repressive legislation, such as the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act in 1960, the banning of political parties, and the detention of key black political leaders. It was also marked by the growth of inter-political party violence as the black political groupings split into factions and new parties. Violence escalated as a consequence of the ill-judged decision by the Ian Smith government with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in November 1965, creating a pariah state subject to United Nations sanctions. Although this action was ambivalently dealt with by the Western nations in the context of the Cold War, as was the case for all the Southern African settler regimes (Southall. 2013), the nationalist movements were able to draw upon support from the rest of the now largely-independent Africa, and importantly the independent states surrounding Rhodesia, with the exception of South Africa and the Portuguese colonies. The ensuing war, which received a massive boost with the collapse of the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola, was bitter and brutal, and there is little doubt that gross human rights violations were committed on an extensive scale. War crimes - extrajudicial killings, torture, displacements and the like - were reported, with the major perpetrators being the Rhodesian forces in all their branches. The guerrilla movements too were reported as committing gross human rights violations. This was also the period in which the first statute of impunity was recorded, the infamous Indemnity and Compensation Act of 1975, made retrospectively applicable to 1972, the year in which it can be said that the Liberation War became a serious concern for the Rhodesian state. This allowed proactive immunity for gross human rights violations for all Rhodesian security forces and government employees, and put paid to the challenges being mounted to these violations by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP.1975; CCJP.1976). Following Independence in 1980, and the much-lauded reconciliation policy of the ZANU PF government, another extensive period of organised violence and torture took place in the 6