A. United Nations Code of Conduct for Law
Enforcement Officials (adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979)
These powers apply to the exercise of police powers and when police powers are
exercised by military personnel or state security forces they also apply to them.
Article 3
Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the
extent required for the performance of their duty.
Article 5
No law enforcement official may inflict … or tolerate any act of torture or other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor may any law enforcement
official invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as … a
threat to national security, internal political instability or any other public emergency
as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
B. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement
Officials (adopted by the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders in 1990)
These principles apply even where there is internal political instability or a
public emergency.
Law enforcement officials should only employ force and firearms if other means are
ineffective. When the use of force and firearms is unavoidable, law enforcement officials
must exercise restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence. They must
also minimise injury and respect and preserve human life. The Government must ensure that
law enforcement officials are punished under the criminal law for arbitrary and abusive
use of force and firearms.
Only where it is not practicable to disperse non-violent but unlawful assemblies by
methods other than the use of force, may law enforcement officials use force but they must
only use the minimum amount of force necessary.
The law enforcement officials may only use firearms to disperse violent assemblies
where less dangerous means are not practicable. When they use firearms, they must use them
only to the minimum extent necessary.
C. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Zimbabwe is a party to this Covenant.
Article 7
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. …
Article 9
Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No person shall be subjected to
arbitrary arrest or detention. …
Article 10
All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect
for the inherent dignity of the human person.
Article 17
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference in his privacy,
family or home…
D. United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Zimbabwe is still not a State Party to this Convention.
Article 1
For the purposes of this Convention the term "torture" means any act by
which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on
a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a
confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed has committed or
is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or
for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is
inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public
official or any other person acting in an official capacity.