Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

Day 2 of the NTJWG Conference being in Bulawayo began with participants visiting different historical sites and heritage centres which depict Zimbabwe’s conflict history and community healing practices. Visited places include; the Entumbane Reintegration Camps sites, the Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church and Amagugu International Heritage Centre.

The month of January recorded many violations which were politically motivated. Most of the reported cases were harassment and intimidation of opposition political activists. Other prominent cases were those of deprivation of state sponsored food aid and inputs for farming.

The month of May stands out owing to violations of the right to education, the right to food and civil and political rights mainly freedom of association and assembly. This May ZPP recorded the highest number of incidences where pupils were sent away from school for failure to pay school fees or clear the previous term’s arrears.

The Report Highlights how Zimbabweans are Prisoners of fear and how the farming season has contributed to an increase in cases of intimidation and harassment as well as discrimination as cases of discrimination have increased from 21 to 31.

This study has been influenced by our reading of similar literatures in relation to the psychological and social effects of the trauma resulting from organised violence and torture. While we will not be reviewing that literature in depth in this report, it does seem important to note that there is a large body of literature relating both to similar experiences elsewhere in the world and also within the specifically Zimbabwean context.

From 21 to 23 November 2018, over 118 delegates converged in Bulawayo for the 2018 Transitional Justice Policy Symposium which was jointly convened by the National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). The theme of the symposium was, ‘Never Again: Setting the Transitional Justice Agenda for Zimbabwe.’

The alert highlights that failure by the government to honour court judgments in favour of victims of human rights violations by the police and the military, is actually a human rights violation.

Under humanitarian law and a series of international conventions, all gross human rights violations are argued to require legal remedy. However, in situations of epidemic violence legal remedies may require extension through a policy of reparations. There are conceptual confusions that often impair the proper formulation of a reparations policy. This paper examines these problems in the context of Zimbabwe.

This paper deals with the problem of epidemic violence and its consequences, most notably with the problem of torture, which is a common consequence of epidemic violence. It is located in that most violent of continents, Africa, and in Zimbabwe in particular.

This report contains the preliminary findings of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), pursuant to an ongoing investigation undertaken into complaints alleging violations of human rights, in particular the right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by COMPLAINANT A AND OTHERS in Epworth and Budiriro, in the Harare Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe.

Heal Zimbabwe recorded a total of 16 cases of human rights violations from 9 districts between the 20th of August and the 15th of September 2017.

The manual was produced to enhance the capacity of members of the PBNZ in their peace-building work by way of a bottom-up approach that also seeks to complement the role that will be played by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) and other local and national processes. Specifically, the manual is intended to develop the capacity of members of the PBNZ in their efforts to heal communities devastated by political violence, as well as by future instances of violent conflict, so that peace can be sustained in Zimbabwe.