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Report for
the year ended
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The Forum
The
The Forum came into being in 1998 following food
riots in February 1998 when 9 human rights NGOs grouped to provide psychosocial
assistance to the victims. The Forum has
extended its mandate since then to assist victims of organized violence using
the following definition;
“Organized violence” means the
inter-human infliction of significant avoidable pain and suffering by an
organized group according to a declared or implied strategy and/or system of
ideas and attitudes. It comprises any
violent action, which is unacceptable by general human standards, and relates
to the victims’ mental and physical well-being.”
The Forum has three units;
a)
The Public
Interest Unit which operates formally under the Legal Resources Foundation and
provides legal assistance through four main projects which are litigation,
research, advocacy and lobbying to clients seeking compensatory damages from
perpetrators of organized violence and torture;
b)
The Research and
Documentation Unit which documents and produces reports on organized violence
and torture in
c)
The International
Liaison Office based in
In summary the Vision of the Forum is a society free
of organized violence and torture. The
This is addressed through “documentation of the
incidences of organized violence and torture in
The Environment in 2005
A culture of violence continued to develop in
An analysis of incidences reported to the Forum for
2005 shows that in terms of the frequency of all violations, 2005 was the worst
year since the Forum began publishing annual reports in July 2001. While the trend towards declining rates of
torture observed in 2004 continued in 2005, in both years torture and assault
increased in the months in which there were elections, as previously
indicated. Displacements, unlawful
arrests and detentions increased markedly in 2005.
This was aggravated by Operation Murambatsvina where
700,000 people in the informal sector in urban areas lost their dwelling and
income through Government’s “Clean up the filth”. In all, 4 200 violations were recorded in
the year in question in categories which ranged from assault to unlawful
detention.
There was little indication in the year that the
Zimbabwean government was taking its responsibilities under the Constitution
and its international obligations seriously.
While encouraging remarks were made by the President
and Commissioner of Police, at the General Election in 2005 that there would be
zero tolerance of violence, numerous instances of retributive violence were
reported in the April Political Violence Report of the Forum.
Inter and intra-party violence increased in 2005,
highlighting the political intolerance prevailing in
In May 2005, Operation Murambatsvina (Clean up the
Filth) was imposed on so-called illegal urban settlements causing
wide-spread destabilization of approximately 700,000 families and impacting on
a further 2,500,000 people. The
justification of the state for this “disastrous venture”[1]
was to regularize informal trading, clean-up illegal urban settlements, stop
illegal dealing in foreign currency. A
report by Ms A Tibaijuka, UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement recorded that the
operation had been carried out in “an indiscriminate and unjustified manner,
with indifference to human suffering and in repeated cases, with disregard to
several provisions of national and international legal frameworks”. The Secretary General of the UN himself
declared the operation to be a “catastrophic injustice”. The mission was significant in that the
crisis in
None of the 12 recommendations in the Report had been
addressed by the State by the end of the year and attempts to provide housing
for displaced persons under Operation Garikai were largely ineffective
with some of the houses being allocated to party faithful, police and army
personnel.
In September 2005, Constitutional Amendment No 17 was
passed in Parliament, which ousted the jurisdiction of the courts to consider
cases whereby land had been acquired by the state and eroded the constitutional
right to freedom of movement for persons not considered to be supporting the
national interest of the state.
Passports were in-fact removed from three
high-profile Zimbabweans but were returned when an urgent High Court
application was made and the office of the Attorney General pointed out that
the enabling legislation had not been put in place.
The external environment in which the Forum operated
in 2005 continued to militate against the achievement of its desired result.
The polarized political environment remained in place
and the opposition MDC, which had shown such promising indications in the
previous years, split into two factions – pro and anti senate. The establishment of the Senate itself was
considered by the public in general to be a profligate waste of financial
resources and a refuge for unsuccessful ZANU (PF) candidates. NGOs continued to be regarded with hostility
by the State, which dismissed them as agents of the opposition and western
countries. While the President declined
to assent to the NGO Bill in December 2004, civil society had been negatively
affected by its possible consequences.
The economy continued to collapse; shortages of basic
commodities became chronic; widespread poverty and hunger persisted as did high
inflation and unemployment. This was
aggravated by the HIV/Aids pandemic, which contributed to a drop in life expectancy
to 37 years for males and 34 for females.
The courts, once hailed for their independence,
continued to become politicized, inefficient and selective in their application
of the law.
The end of 2005 saw a nation of cowed, dispirited and
depressed people as they moved into 2006 in the hope that their circumstances
would improve.
The Public Interest Unit
The specific objective of this Unit is “to
contribute towards the reduction of organized violence and torture, perpetrated
against the person and property of individuals, though the provision of legal
aid”. To this end, the strategies
adopted in the Unit to address the objective were litigation, lobbying,
research and advocacy.
Domestic litigation continued successfully with many
cases being settled out of court with those that proceeded to trial having
judgments in favour of the applicants indicating that the state had accepted
liability in the commission of the particular human rights violations. A consolidated index for the year indicated
that 227 persons were being assisted by the Unit.
The Unit strove to provide timeous legal assistance
and representation to applicants, making compensatory claims on their behalf
against the perpetrators of organized violence and torture, primarily, although
not exclusively, the police and the Army.
Litigation at international level focused on
following the Communications previously lodged with the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). A
positive result was received on Communication 245/02 (relating to the level
of organized violence and torture in
Funding was sought to enable a database to be set up
in the Unit whereby information can be readily extracted giving all detail of
the victims, the perpetrator, the nature and location of the violation
etc. This will enhance the capacity of
the Unit to produce quality reports in selected areas of interest.
Legal practitioners in the Unit participate in the
“any person who actively champions the promotion and
protection of any of the Constitutionally guaranteed rights and in the process
becomes the subject of attack by any organized group, including but not
exclusively state agents and other functionaries”.
Arrests of human rights occur mainly following
peaceful protests or demonstrations by members of civil society protesting
against the parless state of the economy, for a new constitution and even on
Valentine’s Day, as was the case in 2005.
The police invoke the Public Order and Security Act
(POSA), the Codification and Reform Act and Access to
The ZLHR recorded 547 arrests of human rights
defenders in 2005.
Research and Documentation Unit.
The specific objective of the Unit is “to
document, research on, verify and publish incidents of gross violations of
human rights in
In the achievement of the objective the Unit pursued
its effective and wide-reaching dissemination of accurate information to its
target groups, striving to collect data timeously, although this was not always
achieved due to constraints experienced by the source-providers, including some
of the members of the Forum.
Compilation and updating of the database of incidents
of both political and non-political violence continued. The database provides statistical background
and information primarily for the monthly Political Violence Reports of which
twelve were produced in the year with the December 2005 Report providing an
important comparative analysis with 2004.
The Forum relies on its members and partner
organizations to feed in information for its Political Violence Reports and
notes that the Reports cannot therefore be considered as the exhaustive record
of all incidents of political violence in
Reader-friendly Bulletins, in English, Shona and
Ndebele were produced under the titles “Housing Rights in
v “It’s the Count that Counts: Food for Thought:
Reviewing the Pre-election Period in
v “Of Stuffed Ballots and Empty Stomachs: Reviewing
v Order out of Chaos or Chaos out of Order? A Preliminarily Report on Operation
Murambatsvina” – June 2005
v “The Aftermath of a Disastrous Venture: A follow-up
report on Operation Murambatsvina” – August 2005
v “Facts and Fictions: An Audit of the Recommendations
of the Fact-finding
This last Report was tabled at the 38th
Ordinary Session of the African Commission in November 2005 and received wide
attention.
Lobbying and Advocacy
This continued unabated in 2005 both from the
headquarters of the Forum in
Delegations attended the 37th and 38th
Ordinary Sessions of the ACHPR and the NGO Forum meeting of approximately 150
representatives of African NGOs which precede these sessions, taking the
opportunity to report on the deteriorating condition of human rights in
A submission was made to the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No 17) Bill, 2005.
Advertorials were placed in the local media to
commemorate the UN International Day Against Torture on
On the initiative of
The Board
The Board continued to meet monthly. Comprising a senior representative of all
members of the Forum, their names of the members are listed as an
appendix. Appreciation is expressed to
members who contribute so tirelessly to the affairs of the Forum.
In December 2005, Mr
Staff
During 2005 both the Public Interest Unit and the
Research Unit operated short-staffed. In
both cases this was due to staff being on study leave. This is in line with the Forum’s commitment
to encourage and support staff-development. Staff concerned completed a Masters
Degree in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa at the
The calibre of the staff is measured by the output of
an organization and it is with pride that the Forum pays tribute to the staff
for their fortitude, courage and general efficiency in reaching the target;
this despite the negative political and economic environment in Zimbabwe in
2005.
International Liaison Office
Summary
2005 was a very active year internationally for
International Liaison Office (IntLO) of the
During 2005 the Forum managed to expand its
activities with the African Union beyond the ACHPR through participation in the
AU Summit in
Background
The International Liaison Office (IntLO) of the Forum
was formed in January 2002 following an initiative by one of the Forum’s member
organizations; Amani Trust, and their international partner; Redress. From late 2002, Article 19 took over as the
Forum’s
The Forum identified three specific objectives for
its International Liaison Office for 2005;
i to provide security and a relocation
possibility in the scenario where operations within
ii to be an outlet for the release of
reports that cannot safely be released in
iii to co-ordinate the international
lobbying work of the Forum.
Core Liaison Activities
The main international liaison work is distribution
of information through email. This
entails distribution of reports and statements from the Forum’s research unit,
as well as from the member organization and other statements relevant to the
situation in the country. IntLO
maintains an email address list of persons and organizations who receive
reports regularly. At the end of the
year there were 848 addresses on the list.
During the year efforts were made to be more targeted in identifying and
adding institutions and persons who have influence over the situation in
International, regional and other non-governmental
organizations have been identified as main partners for IntLO in lobbying
governments and intergovernmental organizations. During 2005 IntLO continued to host a network
of “
African Union (AU), including the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
The most significant achievement during the year was
the resolution on
However, the ACHPR was stalling on Communication
245/02 which the Forum submitted in the late 2001.
Negotiations for visits from Special Rapporteurs
continued during 2005, however no visits took place during the year. At the 37th Session in
In August, (shortly after the AU Summit in
A civil society conference was organized ahead of the
AU Summit in
The SADC Summit was held in August in
The Forum continued to lobby for a resolution on
However, there was continued success in targeting the
thematic procedures of the UNHRC, with
Similar failure was recorded at the General
Assembly. A delegation was sent to
European Union
The work with the European Union took low key in
2005, since the EU positions on
Visits to the Presidency countries of the EU and
cooperation with relevant institutions in the presidency countries ahead of
international meetings, in particular UN meetings were carried out during the
year.
Other International Direct Lobbying /Representation
The Forum was invited to attend the 2nd
Commonwealth Human Rights Forum in
Co-operation was established with the World Movement
for Democracy during 2005, through a Zimbabwean board member of the Youth
Movement for Democracy, which led to the Forum’s participation in the first
conference of the Africa Democracy Forum in
Support to Local Initiatives
IntLO, through the nature of its work, is getting a
lot of international exposure. This
leads to an increase in interest on
The major challenge is to ensure that this experience
and exposure also benefits the organizations on the ground. During 2005, IntLO has also been able to fund
participation of member organizations to events which have been difficult for
them to fund from their own resources, funding facilitated from IntLO’s own
budget as well as through funded invitations.
Feedback meetings to the member organizations are
held when the coordinator visits
During visits to
The International Day in Support of Torture Victims
is marked around the world on 26 June.
IntLO has since its inception in 2002 organised activities in
Resources
IntLO has in 2005 for the first year had full and
timely funding of its activities, which is clearly reflected in this annual
report, which records a notable increase in activities compared to 2004 and the
years before.
During the year the office has been staffed by a
coordinator and an administrator.
Towards the end of the year a part time post for a financial officer was
created.
IntLO’s offices are in Development House, a building
for NGOs in
Staff
v Executive Director:
v Public Interest Unit
Tafadzwa Mapfumo-Muvingi Legal Practitioner
Harrison Nkomo Legal Practitioner (Acting
Head)
Blessing Gorejena-Chinawa Legal Practitioner
Susan Mutambasere Legal Practitioner
Juliana Mudokwenyu Legal Secretary
v Research and Documentation Unit
Pondai Bamu Researcher
Kennedy Mugochi Researcher
v Administration
Evelyn Maisvoreva Administrator
Ketula Mhembere Messenger/Cleaner
v International Liaison Office
Tor Hugne Olsen Co-Ordinator
Ebba Gandiwa Part-time Administrator
Philip Chikwiramakomo Part-time Accountant
Conclusion
While the threat of the NGO Bill still continued to
impact negatively on civil society in the first part of 2005, it appeared that
the state would instead use existing legislation to control civil society,
including the sinister Constitutional Amendment (No 17) Bill, the continued use
of the Public Order and Security Act, the Miscellaneous Offences Act and the
and Access to
The meltdown of the economy and hyper-inflation have
negatively-effected the operations of the Forum and the morale of the
staff. It has become almost impossible
to budget with accuracy. Equally, the
negative political and economic environment has increased political tension and
human rights violations. The suspicion
with which NGOs are viewed by the state creates its own problems and inhibits
transparent dialogue between the state and civil society. Through all this, the role of NGOs remains
important and it is the declared intention of the Forum to provide services to
its target group as efficiently and effectively as possible in contributing to
the eradication of organized violence and torture in
The support provided by the International Liaison
Office, described above, is invaluable in the achievement of the overall
objectives of the Forum.
[1] “The Aftermath of a Disastrous Venture: A follow-up report on Operation Murambatsvina”
– August 2005