Zimbabwe - Country of Concern: latest update, 31 March 2014
Updated 21 January 2015
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The overall human rights situation in Zimbabwe from January to March 2014 has remained largely stable, with some signs of gradual improvement; in particular, a continued reduction in the number of politically motivated incidents of human rights violations recorded by the NGO Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP). We continue to monitor closely the harassment and arbitrary arrests of civil society organisations (CSOs), human rights defenders and opposition political activists.
On 15 February, the Deputy Treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T), Elton Mangoma, Secretary General, Tendai Biti, and other officials accused of seeking to oust MDC-T party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were attacked outside the party headquarters by youths believed to be aligned to Tsvangirai. Injuries were minor and those affected did not require hospital treatment. Tsvangirai issued a statement condemning the violence.
In late February, the EU, on behalf of local EU missions, as well as several other Western Diplomatic Missions and CSOs, issued statements condemning any political violence and intimidation.
We continue to be concerned at the lack of progress in operationalising the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC). The ZHRC has been allocated funding by the Ministry of Finance and has begun recruiting a secretariat, but the commission is not yet fully operational. In February, the ZHRC appointed Elasto Mugwadi as the new chairperson.
On 21 March, 51 CSOs working on human rights published a Mid-Term Report of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Process. It assessed the performance of the government of Zimbabwe in implementing the UPR held on 10 October 2011. Notably, the government adopted a National Action Plan, which sets out activities to enable implementation. The adoption of the constitution on 22 May 2013 has also resulted in implementation of some recommendations, but in many areas practical progress on the ground has been slow.
Homosexuality remains illegal in Zimbabwe and President Mugabe has repeatedly said that gay rights are not human rights. Mugabe publicly spoke in support of the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act, signed by President Museveni in February, saying Museveni was “fighting a just fight”. In a statement, Mugabe said he was keen to know who is a member of GALZ (Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe), which has been advocating recognition of gay rights in Zimbabwe, and that he would “deal with the organisation”. As a result, on 12 March, a youth volunteer for GALZ was arrested and charged with illegally holding a public meeting. The police have indicated that they will proceed by way of summons. The volunteer was released without charge.
In January, a Harare Magistrate ruled in favour of GALZ and against the state, throwing out charges of running an illegal organisation. Before and after the election, members of GALZ were harassed by the state and their offices raided by police (in August last year). The state alleged GALZ were running an unregistered organisation and “engaging in gay and lesbian activities”.
We have previously reported on the ongoing Glenview case. On 29 January, the three remaining Glenview activists, who had been in detention since March 2012, were released on bail pending trial. The MDC-T released a statement which said, “It was unfair and unconstitutional for the courts to deny them bail when the same courts have ruled that the charges that the three are facing are weak.”
On 17 February, President Mugabe pardoned 2,000 prisoners. While this will help ease the overcrowding in prisons, it does not address the poor living and medical conditions. The state of prisons remains a concern, with a report in December 2013 highlighting the lack of adequate food, sanitation and clean water.
In January, the government started to demolish housing in the high-density suburb of Chitungweza, although the legality of this action is disputed by residents. It follows a report compiled by an audit team set up by the Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo, which identified nearly 25,000 homes for demolition. The local residents’ associations in Harare have reported that this situation is similar to 2005, when Chitungweza was one of the areas targeted by Operation Murambatsvina, in which many residents lost their homes and businesses post-election. The residents’ associations are working with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) on a case to stop the demolitions. ZLHR received a court order in February which has prevented the demolition of the “illegal” houses for now. We continue to monitor this as the number of displaced families may be high, and there is currently no government safety net in place.
We remain concerned by the continuing human rights incidents in the mining area of Marange. In January, reports by the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT), documented fresh human rights abuses at the diamond fields in Manicaland. The Centre for Research and Development (CRD) released a report in January covering the period from July to December 2013, which documented cases of human rights abuses by security personnel, the army and the police. The report highlighted that “responses from company security officials continue to be brutal and heavy-handed” and “armed soldiers and police officers on patrol have also harassed and tortured villagers”.