Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

Dr Peter Magombeyi, a medical doctor and Acting President of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), was abducted on the night of 14 September.

On 19 September 2019, Dr Peter Magombeyi, a medical doctor was found alive and disoriented, dumped about 33 km out of Harare in a placed called Nyabira.

On Friday 11 March 2016, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with four Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) namely Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights), Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)

The Strategic Plan informs the manner in which we engage with key stakeholders and partners in the domestic and international human rights community as we seek to fulfill our broad constitutional mandate.

The purpose of the mission was to assess the living conditions of juvenile inmates and the status of their facilities, as well as to hear the general concerns of the inmates and their proposals for solutions and recommendations.

The Tsholotsho flood report presents the findings and recommendations of a comprehensive report conducted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, into the events associated with the mission visit to the floods victims in Tsholotsho found in Matabeleland North of Zimbabwe.

This report was compiled by the Secretariat of the Commission represented in the various programme units with the guidance and direction of members of the Commission.

The year under review was not without its fair share of challenges. Funding constraints have meant that the ZHRC continues to operate from only two offices Countrywide making it inaccessible to the larger populace.

This Bill was gazetted in the Government Gazette dated 19th April [released to the public on 17th April ahead of the public holidays on 18th and 19th April].

The Tripartite Negotiating Forum Act, 2019 (Act No. 3 of 2019) was gazetted and came into force on Tuesday 4th June [Government Gazette Extraordinary dated 4th June 2019].

Both the National Assembly and the Senate sat last week and this week. Two Bills were passed and progress made on two others.

This morning an important statutory instrument was published in a Government Gazette Extraordinary: the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Legal Tender) Regulations, 2019 (SI 142 of 2019). The instrument can be viewed on the Veritas website

SI 142 of 2019 [link] ‒ the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Legal Tender) Regulations, 2019, to give it its full name ‒ declared that the Zimbabwe dollar should be the sole legal tender in Zimbabwe for all transactions.

The Marriages Bill, 2019 [H.B. 7, 2019] was gazetted on Friday 19th July. The Bill can be downloaded from the Veritas website [link]. For our analysis of the Bill see Bill Watch 36/2019 of 22nd July

Parliament has in separate public notices dated 23rd July invited the public to make comments on the above-mentioned Bills. In each case the deadline for receipt of written submissions is Friday next week, 2nd August.

On the 24th July the Deputy Speaker of Parliament announced that the Parliamentary Legal Committee had issued an adverse report on the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill, meaning that the Committee had found some provisions of the Bill to be unconstitutional. The report can be seen on the Veritas website [link] as can the Bill itself [link].

Both the Senate and the National Assembly will continue sitting this week, the third week of the current series of sittings.

On Thursday 2nd August the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Hon Mthuli Ncube, presented his 2019 Mid-Year Budget Review and Supplementary Budget to the National Assembly. President Mnangagwa attended the presentation. Opposition MDC-A MPs did not

Both Houses of Parliament sat this week. The Senate sat on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th August and then adjourned until Tuesday 27th August. The National Assembly sat on Tuesday, Wednesday and yesterday before also adjourning to Tuesday 27th August

At a sitting that started on 8th August and ended at 4.10 am on 9th August the National Assembly passed the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill with amendments, most of which were intended to meet objections raised by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] in its adverse report on the Bill.

By furious fast-tracking of business on Wednesday 8th [they sat until 10.39 pm] and Thursday 9th [until 4.10 am on Friday morning] the National Assembly managed to pass, not only the Finance (No. 2) Bill and the Appropriation Supplementary (2019) Bill [the two Budget bills], but also, with amendments, the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill

The 39th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was held at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania last weekend. All sixteen SADC member States were represented.

Recalled from their recess by the President to conduct special business [see Bill Watch 45/2019 of 12th August [link] – Senators assembled on Wednesday 14th August for a single sitting that lasted for just over eight hours, with the adjournment until Tuesday 27th August coming at 10.37 pm.

On Tuesday 27th August the Senate received the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC]'s non-adverse report on the amendment to clause 7(5) of the Bill made at its special sitting on 14th August.

Three months ago, when the Minister of Finance and Economic Development gazetted SI 142/2019 [link] declaring RTGS dollars to be the only legal tender in Zimbabwe, press headlines referred to the "outlawing" of the use of the US dollars and other foreign currencies in Zimbabwe. Ministers and officials said the same thing.

There will be a ceremonial opening of the Second Session on Tuesday 1st October. During this opening the President will present his State of the Nation Address [SONA] and outline the legislative agenda for this session.

President Mnangagwa opened the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament of Zimbabwe at a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament in the National Assembly today.

The purpose of this bulletin and another to follow soon is to provide, in two Parts, an update on Government Gazettes and statutory instruments from 1st August to date which have not been noted previously in our bulletins.

This bulletin continues where Bill Watch 52 of 16th October [“Statutory Instruments: Part 1]” [link] stopped; it will deal with Government Gazettes from SI 205/2019 of 20th September up to SI 221/2019 of 18th October.

The Second Session of this Parliament – the Ninth Parliament of Parliament [and second Parliament under the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe] was officially opened by President Mnangagwa on Tuesday 1st October at a joint sitting of both Houses.

When opening the current session of Parliament on 1st October the President criticised Parliament’s low output of Bills during the last session

It has always been difficult to find out which international treaties are binding on Zimbabwe. This is partly because the procedures by which Zimbabwe becomes a party to treaties are not transparent, and partly because the government has not published a treaty list ‒ i.e. a list of the treaties that are binding on this country ‒ for nearly 20 years.

Both Houses will reconvene next week, having adjourned until Tuesday 12th November after their last sittings on 24th October. In the meantime, MPs and Ministers have been attending the pre-Budget Seminar at Victoria Falls from 30th October to 4th November.

The Senate and the National Assembly last sat on Thursday 24th October. Since then MPs have been occupied mainly with Budget business.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube, presented the 2020 National Budget to the National Assembly this afternoon

On Friday 8th November the Office of the President and Cabinet announced changes made by President Mnangagwa to his Ministerial line-up with immediate effect. The following tables show the complete Ministerial line-up including the changes, in alphabetical order by name of Ministry.

The 2020 National Budget Presentation on 14th November, noted briefly in Bill Watch 59/2019 [link], was not the only important event of the last Parliamentary week. This bulletin is to update readers on other noteworthy developments in the National Assembly that occurred last week.

Resumption of the Budget debate is on the Order Paper for today, Tuesday 26th November.

Last week, only the National Assembly was in session.

Bill Watch 65/2019 contained speculation that Parliament would, as it has done in past years, have a ten-day break to allow ZANU PF MPs to attend to their party obligations in connection with the ZANU PF Annual Conference.

AN ACT to make provision for the maintenance of peace, order and security in Zimbabwe; to repeal the Public Order and Security Act [Chapter 11:17]; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.

Statement about the Political situation in Zimbabwe in November 2017

The ZHRC is encouraged by assurances by the military concerning the imperative to uphold constitutionalism and values of justice, non-violence, human rights and freedoms in resolving the current political situation.

This bulletin is a summary of a report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission [hereafter referred to as “the Commission” or “ZHRC”] recording its assessment of the human rights situation of communities in the Tsholotsho district affected by the floods experienced in the 2013/2014 rainy season.

In Parliament recently, the Deputy Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare made a Ministerial Statement on the Government’s Food Deficit Mitigation Programme, which was repeated in the Senate the following day.

This bulletin is the first of several that will draw attention to and summarise reports of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission on investigations carried out since the Commission became operational.

This bulletin contains the text of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission’s Press Statement on the promotion and protection of environmental and related rights in the face of ongoing flooding in urban areas.

This bulletin is an update on the membership of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] following its return to full strength with the filling of six vacancies last month.

In the National Assembly yesterday, Tuesday 10th May, the Minister of State in Vice-President Mphoko’s office, Hon Tabitha Kanengoni, withdrew the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill in terms of Standing Order 157.

This bulletin is to remind readers about this month’s segment of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission’s APRIL-JULY OUTREACH PROGRAMME that will take the Commission to the people of Zimbabwe all round the country.

This bulletin introduces the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission’s APRILJULY OUTREACH PROGRAMME that will take the Commission to the people of Zimbabwe all-round the country.

Zimbabwe National Assembly Portfolio Committees October 2018

Zimbabwe Senate Thematic Committees October 2018

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has taken note of and is concerned about the impasse between the Government of Zimbabwe and members of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA) who have been on strike since the 1st of March 2018.

National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Consultations

National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Commissioner

The press statement was issued by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission on 15th August 2019 ahead of the mass demonstrations planned for 16th August.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) carried out a human rights situation monitoring exercise in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts in Manicaland Province in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai.

Today the 31 st of January 201 9, the NPRC acting in terms of its mandate provided for in Section 252 (d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (Number 20) of 201 3 initiated a planning process for National Dialogue with key stakeholders who included Government, Traditional Leaders, the Church, Arts and Culture, Civil Society, Business, Academia, Persons with Disabilities, Women and Youth among others. The objective of the meeting was to jointly develop a framework for a comprehensive dialogue process.

There is one vacancy to be filled on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission following the resignation of Commissioner C. T. Khombe before the expiry of his term of office.

Veritas draws attention to the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s public notice announcing the names of the 133 persons in respect of whom nomination documents have been submitted for appointment as members of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.

The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is concerned by the deteriorating political and economic situation in the country. The NPRC is therefore initiating a multi-stakeholder consultative dialogue process.

Statement by Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 16th August 2019 Demonstrations in Harare

Celebrating a golden jubilee is a significant milestone for every individual or organization as this chronicles a journey travelled with joys, trials and tribulations.

This document is an invitation to all Zimbabweans and all friends of Zimbabwe to dialogue with us so that we can together define a national vision of the Zimbabwe we want and agree on strategies on how to get there.

Statement by youth leaders from 20 Zimbabwe Political Parties following Youth Political Party Dialogues with the Security Sector and Chapter 12 Commissions convened by the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) on 7 June and 28 June 2019 respectively.

A Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference On the Current Food Security Crisis in Our Country.

The message is meant to cheer and encourage, fill with hope, to give praise, understanding and support to all married couples and families.

One of the objectives of the Congress is to represent the Zimbabwe labour movement in international fora and promote friendship, cooperation, solidarity and fraternal understanding with other trade union movements, progressive institutions and mass organizations whose aims and principles coincide with those of the Congress

The theme in this campaign is Harmonisation of Labour Laws to comply with International Labour Standards'. Kindly find below a summary of the shortcomings in our labour law and the workers' demands.

Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization to examine the observance by the Government of Zimbabwe of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)

AN ACT to provide for the establishment of the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority and to provide for the functions thereof; to provide for the constitution and functions of the Special Economic Zones Board; to provide for the establishment of special economic zones,and the administration, control, regulatory measures and incentives in connection therewith; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing.

ACT to make further provision for the Public Service Commission and its functions; to provide for the constitution and administration of the Public Service and the conditions of service of its members; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.

ACT tO amend the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01J; and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Act to provide for the establishment of the Health Service Board and its functions; to constitute the Health Service and to provide for its administration and the conditions of service of its members; to provide for the transfer of persons engaged in public health service delivery from the Public Service to the Health Service and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.

In countries that have adopted the Westminster model of parliamentary government,the post of Leader of the Opposition is a semi-official parliamentary post given to the leader of the main opposition party or group in Parliament. The post is largely symbolic, but the symbolism is very important.

The section provides for setting up an independent body to receive and investigate complaints against the security services [i.e. the Police Service, the Defence Forces, the State intelligence services and the Prisons and Correctional Service].

In this Constitution Watch we shall indicate what can and should be done after Parliament has completed impeachment proceedings and resolved that the President should be removed from office.

Section 50(5)(c) of the Constitution provides that anyone who is detained has the right to communicate with, and be visited by, their relatives, their chosen religious counsellor, their chosen lawyer and their chosen medical practitioner.

As long ago as 1997 our Supreme Court ruled that arbitrarily stopping either people or vehicles infringes the constitutional right to freedom of movement, though the court held that the random stopping of vehicles to check for vehicle defects could be regarded as a justifiable limitation if it was done for the purpose of ensuring safety on the roads.

Several Acts of Parliament contain provisions permitting the President or a Minister to make statutory instruments ‒ regulations, orders and so on ‒ which amend the Acts themselves.

A search of a person’s home or property is an infringement of their right to privacy,guaranteed by section 57 of the Constitution.

What is criminal nuisance and how does it affect the right to demonstrate guaranteed by section 59 of the Constitution?

Section 210 of the Constitution provides for the investigation of complaints against the security services [i.e. the Police Service, the Defence Forces, the State intelligence services and the Prisons and Correctional Service].

In this bulletin we shall examine the legality of the Internet shut-downs against the background of the Constitution, international law and the Interception of Communications Act.

Yet another 26th June has come and gone without Zimbabwe having adopted the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [CAT].

FINANCIAL ADJUSTMENTS BILL, 2019

The Government of Zimbabwe blames the country’s steep economic decline in the decades after 2000, on sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, particularly those of the EU and US. The Government has framed these measures as an international trade embargo against Zimbabwe and, because they do not have the imprimatur of the United Nations Security Council, maintain that they are illegal.

STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS OF 2019

ZANU-PF versus MDC-A : Chairing of Parliamentary Committees

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to government and non governmental sectors and scientific groups in Zimbabwe working with international,regional and national stakeholders and communities in the development and evaluation of candidate vaccines relevant to Zimbabwe.

The Report highlights issues about Human rights education in medical education, Prison Health Protection Program and Training on health and human rights in prisons.

Child Rights and Welfare

The Handbook shades light on the international and national legal framework so that those who work with children in the justice system will be aware of the legal provisions that should guide them as they carry out their work.

Swedish Sida in Harare commissioned an evaluation to assess the impact of CIVNET’s activities and training programmes, for which they have provided funding support for the period between 2000 to 2007. An independent consultant, Ms Dren Nupen from Johannesburg, South Africa was contracted to undertake the evaluation because of her experience in the NGO sector in South Africa and the SADC region.

This report presents the work of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum for the period beginning January 2017 to December 2017.The report takes into account the strategic pathway which drove the organisation and the operational challenges it faced together with its members.

Statement to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at the 65th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights under Agenda Item 4e

The newsletter talks about the human rights developments in the country and keeps people informed on how "The Forum" worked for the realization and enjoyment of the rights of Zimbabwean people in the month of July.

The newsletter talks about the human rights developments in the country and keeps people informed on how "The Forum" worked for the realization and enjoyment of the rights of Zimbabwean people in the month of June.

The NTJWG joined the rest of the world in commemorating the International of Peace. Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September.

The month of August is always a difficult time for Zimbabwe. It is the same month in which at least six civilians were shot dead by the army following the demonstrations in the Harare CBD. Since then, things have not been the same. In this newsletter, we highlight so that you get the full picture of the transitional justice landscape in the country.

There were a number of considerable transitional justice developments in the country in the month of July.This newsletter,captures these developments for you,so that you get the full picture of the transitional justice landscape in the country.

There have been several transitional justice developments in the country in June.In this newsletter,we package these developments for you, so that you get the full picture of the transitional justice landscape in the country.

The National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) joined the rest of the world in commemorating Nelson Mandela Day.

The report outlines several violations which happened in the various provinces against different victims

In this report, the Human Rights Forum made the very strong allegation that the Government of Zimbabwe is complicit at the least in the commission of Crimes against Humanity.

The attack of teachers has been ongoing against the backdrop of violence being perpetrated against civil servants (including district administrators, and nurses) by ruling party (Zanu PF) supporters, “war veterans” and the youth militia. Violence against teachers has continued unabated since June 2000.

Falanga is unequivocally a form of torture and constitutes a serious criminal assault under Zimbabwean law. This form of torture has become particularly prevalent in the past five years. Although falanga has been reported in previous decades, it now appears to be very widespread indeed, and almost routine, both inside and outside of places of detention.

The crisis which began in late 1997 showed little sign of abating during 1999, and all political commentators remain agreed that the severe crisis continuing in Zimbabwe shows little sign of immediate resolution. The President continued to act without consulting Parliament or with respect to the Constitution.

This report examines the political environment in which the law enforcement agencies have been operating in Zimbabwe since 2000. It explores the extent to which the law enforcement agencies have become instruments of state repression, and the extent to which the abuses by these agencies are officially condoned, sanctioned or encouraged by their commanders and by the political leaders under whose auspices these agencies operate.

“Operation Murambatsvina” and “Operation Restore Order” are the code names used by the police for a massive operation that began in Zimbabwe towards the end of May. This nationwide campaign, which has been conducted in the cities and towns, in peri-urban areas, and on farms settled after land invasions, has led to the destruction of many thousands of houses and means of shelter, trading stalls and markets.

Widespread human rights violations were inflicted upon white farmers and black farm workers by agents of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government during the seizures of whiteowned farms from 2000 to 2005.

This report is a collaborative effort between the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) to have a competent, national and collective human rights appraisal of Zimbabwe that can be an addition and alternative to external Zimbabwe human rights assessments.

The Human Rights Forum is issued this brief report, to compliment the reports already issued, adding to the calls for strong international action to be taken in order to ensure the integrity of the coming poll, and to call for immediate steps to be taken to protect the rights of ordinary Zimbabwe citizens to chose their leaders without coercion, and in a climate in which their basic freedoms are respected, enforced, and protected under the Constitution.

The utterances of political leaders can be very revealing. Their commitment to democracy and human rights is most tested when there is a serious challenge to their continued hold on power or when they attract heavy criticism. At such times, the leaders either display political tolerance or they lash out at their critics and opponents. Leaders with repressive tendencies will turn to repression; leaders who respect democracy will not.

The reports of the ZRP reveal that, in the minds of numerous ZRP officers, the exercise of freedom of expression by opposition groups is so obviously undesirable and criminal it is assumed the reader will, like the police officers in question, regard the actual criminal charge preferred as a mere legal detail.

The deteriorating economic conditions that prevailed from the early 1990s onward contributed to the rise in popularity of the MDC. Arguably, the decline began with the World Bank/IMF-inspired Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in the early 1990s, which led to rapid de-industrialisation, growing unemployment and severe erosion of living standards.

The central purpose of the Briefing is to consider the options open to the central protagonists in this process, within the context of the balance of power and relations of force within the country and the region, while also contextualising the international dimension.

Since the signing and initiation of the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe in September 2008  and February 2009 respectively, the politics of the country has been convulsed with a recurring  set of problems even as it has allowed for a certain political and economic stabilization. The  agreement, with its attendant Inclusive Government, was set up to establish the conditions for a  free and fair election.

South Africa receives more asylum seekers than any other country in the world with people mainly coming from Zimbabwe, the DRC, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, as well as from countries further afield to escape poverty, insecurity and political turmoil.

Zimbabweans are now the second biggest group of foreign Africans in South Africa. Yet there is little formal information available on their situation. Very few are being officially recorded as political refugees. Some Zimbabweans claim that it is hard to access asylum seeker status. It was the intention of the authors to investigate these allegations, as well as to establish other problems and issues of relevance to Zimbabweans in South Africa.

Residents of Matebeleland and Bulawayo are facing particular challenges within a greater Zimbabwean context that remains very difficult for all low income families. Households scattered throughout Matebeleland are already dealing with severe hunger.

This report follows up on previous OM research conducted by SPT in 2005 and 2006 and build on narratives of the lives of particular families and informal settlements from 2005 to 2010. The story is a grim one with many of those we remembered now prematurely dead, and others living in unspeakable poverty.

The Crisis of immigration into South Africa is a direct product of the crisis in Zimbabwe, as economic recovery in Zimbabwe is not likely to occur soon, its biggest export will remain its people.

The discovery of significant alluvial diamond deposits in the Marange area of eastern Zimbabwe [Manicaland Province] in June 2006 should have been a means of salvation for the virtually bankrupt country after ten years of chaos that saw world record inflation and the nation brought to its knees. Instead, it has led to greed, corruption and exploitation on a grand scale, the use of forced labour – both adults and children - horrifying human rights abuses, brutal killings, degradation of the environment and the massive enrichment of a select few.

For the past five years Zimbabwe has been racked by an economic, social, political and human rights crisis, which no one inside or outside of the country has been able to reverse. The European Union, the United States of America and other Western nations have applied selective financial and travel sanctions against President Mugabe and other Zanu-PF leaders, and some of these powers have also made unsuccessful attempts to challenge Zimbabwe’s human rights record in international fora, including the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on Human Rights.

The Redress Trust is an international NGO whose objectives are to assist torture victims anywhere in the world, and to make accountable all those who perpetuate, aid and abet acts of torture. It has been following closely events in Zimbabwe, and with its considerable experience of the issues involved REDRESS participated in organising the August symposium and presented papers at it.

The current report is based on information compiled from both a wide range of sources and researched locally by the IRCT delegation. The IRCT delegation visited Zimbabwe from 29 May to 6 June 2000. The delegation comprised Maria Piniou- Kalli, MD, IRCT President and specialist dermatologist, Inge Genefke, MD.DMSc hc, IRCT Secretary-General and specialist neurologist, and Soraya Usmani Martinez, IRCT Project Coordinator for Sub Saharan Africa.

The ZTVP conducted a ‘snap’ survey of 236 Zimbabweans in 5 different locations of Gauteng during July and early August 2005. None of those interviewed were or are clients of the ZTVP or the related ‘Tree of Life’ healing programme.

This report describes abuses by ZANU-PF that continue to take place despite ongoing negotiations between the two parties. Hundreds of MDC activists who fled the violence in the weeks before the June 27 runoff remain in hiding while “war veterans” and youth militia continue to terrorize villagers in the rural areas.

The report is based on a Human Rights Watch mission to Limpopo province in April and May 2006. Because of the historical predominance of Zimbabwean migrants on farms in the far north of Limpopo province and the increasing numbers of Zimbabwean migrants fleeing the deteriorating political and economic situation in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch focused its research on Limpopo.

This briefing paper is a follow up to the report “Not Eligible: The Politicization of Food in Zimbabwe,” produced by HRW in October 2003. It finds that the situation has improved somewhat, though cause for concern remains, given the lack of verifiable information concerning grain supplies and the government’s decision not to renew its appeal for international food assistance.

The report emphasizes the the government of Zimbabwe should take immediate steps to end continuing abuses against the media as part of a broader effort to create the necessary constitutional and electoral framework envisaged in the GPA. Media freedom, an elemental human right that was also promised by the parties to the GPA, is urgently needed as a precursor to the conduct of free, fair, and credible elections that can truly reflect the political will of Zimbabweans.

This report tells the stories of the mass evictions and house demolitions and the continuing suffering of those affected, mostly in the words of victims. Women, children and men recount how they were forced to destroy their own houses, often at gunpoint.

Zimbabwe’s armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), are engaging in forced labor of children and adults and are torturing and beating local villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district.

This report highlights the repressive tactics that the government has used in the past year to suppress the increasing political and economic discontent among the population. The police have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of civil society activists during routine meetings or peaceful demonstrations, often with excessive force, and in some cases subjected those in custody to severe beatings that amounted to torture, and other mistreatment.

This report is a compilation of emerging conflicts and problem trends from selected districts in the country. The report identifies current conflict trends, their causes and suggested community protection systems. It identifies different types of conflicts and human rights violations within different communities to support rapid response and early warning needs by law enforcement agencies and conflict transformation and peacebuilding agencies.

The report highlights the following topics Power, power shifts and performance of the Inclusive Government, Politics of violence and fear in Zimbabwe, Constitution-making and constitutional expectations, Party support and declaring vote intention, Elections – expectations, experiences and electoral violence-fear-coercion, Political interest and media use.

Zimbabweans are showing the evidence of having been torn in all directions in the transitional period.  They have been scarred by the party political wars since the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)  from late 2000 onwards first posed an electoral challenge to the Zimbabwe African National UnionPatriotic  Front  (ZANU‐PF).  Zimbabweans,  as  represented  in  this  stratified‐random  and  nationally  representative sample, are not sure it seems on what to believe and how to relate to political and  economic circumstances.

This report provides a brief top-line analysis of 267 Zimbabweans who sought assistance from the Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project (ZTVP), located in Johannesburg, South Africa, over the past one and half years. In recent times, South Africa has seen an increase in the number of Zimbabweans coming into South Africa linked to the political crisis in that country.

The paper analyses the practice with respect to criminal prosecutions and amnesty of the 40 truth commissions established around the world between 1974 and 2010.

This report focuses on the circumstances of women human rights defenders in Zimbabwe. It explores their motivations and objectives. It documents human rights violations experienced by women human rights defenders, and the tools of repression used by the government to crush dissent.

This preliminary report was predicated by the need to provide some hard information on the issues faced by displaced commercial farm workers. It was not the intention that this survey provide any estimate of the numbers, but rather to provide some qualitative data on the population in question.

This study was conducted as a preliminary to the launch of a Forensic Nurse training course, and the aim was to investigate the understanding by nurses of human rights issues in relation to nursing. The approach was similar to that used in a previous study of medical students carried out in 2000 by the Amani Trust, in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Medical Students’ Association.

There is now a substantial literature dealing with the consequences of repressive violence on individuals and families (1). The literature details the effects, on individuals, of torture and violent injury, as well as the effects of exposure to violent situations, and also deals with both the short-term and long-term effects.

This report has been produced in order to summarise 5 years of training in Mashonaland Central Province. The AMANI Trust has been training nurses and other health workers in Mashonaland Central Province since 1995 and it seems appropriate to take stock of what we have learned over this time.

The violence that has afflicted Zimbabwe since the Constitutional referendum has received considerable international attention, mainly due to remarkable documentation from the press, the media and human rights groups.

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.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) has been argued to be a useful classification in dealing with stressors of an extreme nature, specifically those of a "catastrophic" nature according to Axis IV of DSM III and DSM III(R). The stressor no longer forms part of the background theory of a disorder, as is the case for many disorders, but forms the rationale for the disorder.

This present paper will first analyse the problems involved in compensating victims of human rights violations, summarising the international perspective. It will then turn to a summary of the situation in Zimbabwe, detailing what is known here in Zimbabwe about the victims of gross human rights violations, and then examining these findings with respect to the War Victims Compensation Act(1980), and its provisions and procedures.

The use of Emergency Powers and the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act was continued by the Mugabe government, but extended considerably by the Presidential Powers Act, and always finally the use of formal impunity and pardons to cover human rights violations. There remains a consistent pattern in Zimbabwe: of periods in which gross human rights violations are permitted and even encouraged, followed by the formal excusing of such violations by impunity.

This report details the clinical findings from 5 months of attending the clinic at Harare Hospital.The consequences of organised violence are many and complex, and include both physical and psychological effects. Since this is a new field there are still controversies about the effects and how best to classify them. The definition of organised violence too is complex, having to cover a wide variety of causes and effects on people.

This present monograph concentrates upon the effects upon the witnesses who testified in the petitions. Most of these witnesses were victims of organised violence and torture during the June 2000 General Election. They were either primary victims – those who were direct victims of organised violence or torture – or secondary victims – family members or witnesses to direct violence. They were followed up after they had given their testimony, and a detailed interview conducted on their experiences during and after testimony in the High Court.

This paper examines the phenomenon of youth militia in Zimbabwe, and contrasts this use of the youth with the views and opinions of ordinary young Zimbabweans

An examination of a population of survivors more than a decade and half after the traumatic events, which indicates that no-one should be sanguine that survivors of OVT heal themselves: war veterans, activists and the politically uncommitted were all affected by the Liberation War. It seems evident that Zimbabweans, in common with all other people, do not cope well with the effects of OVT.

Organised violence and torture are integral features of Zimbabwean political life, and have been since the early 1960s.This paper discusses the current violence in Zimbabwe, and outlines the major features of this violence in the context of violence in Zimbabwe generally.

This report attempts to give a factual account of the impact Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order. This is done through analysis of the impact at both household level and community level.

Amnesty International welcomes the initiative by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non discrimination in this context to prepare guidance for states on designing and implementing effective human rights-based housing strategies to realize the right to housing and to fulfil commitments made under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.

Between 1991 and 2003, urban poverty trebled in Zimbabwe. It was against this background of escalating economic collapse and social disintegration that “Operation Murambatsvina” (OM), or “Discarding the Filth”, took place in mid 2005. In the space of a few weeks, 700,000 people lost their homes and/or livelihoods in a process that the UN has referred to as “indiscriminate and unjustified”. More than two million others suffered related losses as a result of the demolitions.

The Zimbabwean authorities claimed that the destruction of homes and other properties is part of a long-term plan to clean up the urban areas, restore order, rid the cities of criminal elements and restore dignity to the people.

The primary objective of this journal is to post regularly online articles discussing topical and other important legal issues in Zimbabwe soon after these issues have arisen. However,other articles on other important issues will also be published.

Subliminal terror? Human rights violations and torture in Zimbabwe during 2008.Although human rights violations have taken place in Zimbabwe over the past three decades, the major focus in this monograph will be upon the period 2000 to 2008, with special reference to 2008.

The report documents the outstanding areas of implementation according to domestic law and international obligations. It documents deficits in fully operationalising the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), the Independent Complaints Mechanism (ICM), and the Ethics and Integrity Committee (EIC). The report documents other processes which include the Commission of Inquiry into August 1 post- election violence. It further documents interventions by civil society actors such as litigation for redress on behalf of victims and the mobilisation of stakeholders at the symposium towards a transitional justice policy.