School attendance was reduced by 50 per cent according to the Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Monitoring Survey* owing to financial constraints. The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC), the state-authorized examinations regulator, erred in the marking of November 2008 O-level and A-level examination papers, and the release of Grade 7 results was delayed. According to ZIMSEC, only 139,000 out of 380,000 O-level and A-level students registered for the 2009 examinations as a result of financial constraints. Case histories • Duncan Mapasure, a teacher at Mtasa Primary School in Mtasa district, Manicaland, was severely assaulted by ZANU(PF) youth militias on Friday, 11 September for failing to heed to the call by the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA), a ZANU(PF)-backed union, to embark on strike action for a salary increment.** • In October, 200 youths aged 14 and 15 were forced to undergo semi-military training with the auxiliary police at Rudhaka stadium, which resulted in their missing school at Dimbe, Dhirihori and Masikana Schools in Chief Svosve’s area, Mashonaland East province. The training involved military drills and shouting war cries. There were fears that the children were being readied for use as a political terror machine.*** 4.5.2 Violations of the right to health Violations to the access to health and medical facilities contravening local and or international regulations and conventions. Policy Zimbabwe is a party to legally binding treaties such as ICESCR and the ACHPR, as well to as other treaties that observe the right to health. ICESCR states that States parties should recognize the right of every­one to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (article 12), and take legislative and other steps to the ‘maximum of its available resources’ to achieving ‘progressively’ the full realization of the rights to health. The government of Zimbabwe therefore has a legal obligation to all its citizens to be concerned about their health needs. The 1998 Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights do not relieve states of certain minimum obligations in respect of their nationals’ right to health. This obligation requires the government to desist from carrying out any discriminatory and retro­ gressive practices, or sponsoring or tolerating any practice, policy or legal measure violating the rights of the individual to health. * Conducted by the the Zimbabwe Central Statistical Office, a customized version of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey which was originally developed by UNICEF to measure progress towards an internationally agreed set of goals that emerged from the 1990 World Summit for Children. ** ‘Zanu PF youth militia assault school teacher’, Sokwanele, 16 September 2009, <http://www.sokwanele.com/ thisiszimbabwe/archives/4731>. *** Taurai Bande, ‘ZANU militarise rural areas’, The Zimbabwean, 16 October 2009. Zimbabwe Human Rights Report – 2009 23