Specific Findings Section 1: Rights relating to respect for the Integrity of the Person During 2013, the number of cases of politically motivated murder, violence, abduction, disappearance, torture and intimidation was lower than it has been in previous years. Despite this, the overall situation was still far from perfect. There were ongoing serious human rights abuses, including a disappointing lack of policy reforms and the continuously selective application of the law. Although the new constitution guaranteed rights for criminal defendants, criminal procedure laws were not aligned with the constitution; thus overt attacks on the legal profession, such as the arrest and detention of Beatrice Mtetwa, continued to be seen despite the separation of the offices of the attorney general and Prosecutor General, as the incumbent remained in office. Several political opponents - or those perceived to be such - were arrested and brought to court where due process safeguards were not guaranteed, with trials characterized by multiple delays calculated to harass defendants. With regard to organized violence, although the amount of overt violence was low, cases of institutional intimidation and harassment continued, with food related violations and post-election reprisals also occurring. Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties The new constitution guarantees civil liberties including freedom of speech, press and media and assembly and association. However, there were ongoing serious human rights abuses, including the tight control of electronic media and further controls on mobile telephone communications. Such mass surveillance affected the ability of opposition political parties to organize, and the lack of privacy afforded to them had a huge bearing on democratic progress. Legislative and institutional reforms were not priorities for the government, and repressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) continued to be used selectively by unreformed state institutions and actors to prevent constitutional freedoms from being exercised due to lack of political will and failure to censure heavy-handed action whenever it occurred. There were attacks on the media, judges and lawyers, use of repressive laws against targeted civil society organizations (CSOs) and human rights defenders (HRDs) and criminalization of free speech. There were 60 cases in which Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act was arbitrarily applied on individuals who were charged with allegedly “insulting or undermining the authority of the President” since 2010. The ongoing and escalating assault on NGOs involved in civic education, human rights monitoring, public outreach and service provision – all of which are lawful activities and noble endeavours were highlighted by local NGOs. Free protests were quashed and met with disproportionate force. With regard to citizenship rights, a lack of clarity prevailed despite the signing into law of the new constitution which allows dual citizenship and restored citizenship rights to a lot of people who had been disenfranchised. Section 3. Respect for Political Rights The old constitution provided citizens with the right to change their government peacefully. Section 23A of the new constitution under which the 2013 elections were held explicitly provides for the right to vote. Despite this affirmation, the right was restricted in practice. The political process continued to be biased heavily in favor of ZANU-PF, which has dominated politics and government and manipulated electoral results since the country gained independence in 1980. During the 2013 harmonised elections held on 31 July 2013 substantial electoral irregularities were reported by domestic and regional observers, which rendered the result an in-credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people. The election was reported to be the culmination of a deeply flawed process: there were irregularities in the provision and composition of the voters roll; the political parties had unequal access to state media; the security sector did not safeguard the electoral process on an even-handed basis; and the government failed to implement the political reforms mandated by Zimbabwe’s new constitution, the Global Political Agreement, and the region.