Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

This report covers the state of human rights in Zimbabwe in the year 2018. While it is impossible to capture and record every single incident that happened in the year, the report presents and analyses key events and incidences that shaped the human rights landscape, as well as compliance,accountability and impunity.

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.

This report outlines the opinions and expectations of Victims and Survivors on what should be included in a Transitional Justice Framework for Zimbabwe commissioned by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.

Human Rights violations continued on a downward trend in the month of December with 136 violations recorded, down from the 164 recorded in November. Zanu PF was responsible for most of the violations followed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police officers and Municipal police officers.

The report highlights how the Zimbawe Republic Police made up 25% of the perpetrators of Human Rights Violations which was one of the highest figures in 2018.

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.’

This report captures all the proceedings of the symposium, speeches, expert exchanges and outcomes. With QR codes scattered across the report, the reader is invited to join the dialogue, to watch the videos of the presentations and capture the full emotion of the 2018 symposium.

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 conference commenced with welcome remarks from Reverend Dr Ray Motsi (the NTJWG Thematic Leader on Memorialisation). There where also remarks from Paul Themba Nyathi, the NTJWG Deputy Chairperson standing in for the working group’s Chairperson, Aleck Muchadehama as well as a speech from Nomfundo Mogapi the Executice Director of CSVR and last but not least, remarks by the Chairperson of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Retired Justice Selo Nare.

The Month of October recorded a total of 235 violations. There was a rise in the violations connected to assault and most perpetrators where male affiliated to the ruling ZANU PF party.

ZPP recorded a total of 124 cases containing 226 human rights violations showing a downward trajectory from the 266 violations recorded in August. In comparison to the previous month, there has been a spike in the cases of discrimination with the highest being reported from Midlands, followed by Masvingo, Manicaland and Mashonaland East.

Picking up the pieces in the aftermath of the elections

The July Monthly Monitoring report contextualizes the Eve of the run up to the Harmonised 2018 elections. It was characterized by disregard of the Political parties' code of conduct.

A comparative analysis revealed that human rights violations increased from 181 in the month of May to 204 in the minth of June.

There was a notable 20 percent decrease in recorded cases of human rights violations from the previous month, which should be a positive development as we go to the general election in two months’ time.

The Zimbabwe Peace project recorded an increase in Human rights violations to 190 in November 2017.Most Cases of Harassment and Intimidation were linked to the BVR exercise and the Intra-party violence within the ruling part ZANU PF.

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.