Ongoing risks for human rights defenders in the context of political deadlock and pre-electoral period

Paris-Geneva,November 26, 2012. The Observatory forthe Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of theInternational Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), has published today the report “Zimbabwe: Ongoingrisks for human rights defenders in the context of political deadlock andpre-electoral period”.

More than four years afterthe adoption of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) between the two majorpolitical parties in Zimbabwe, following the 2008 major crises that resulted ingrave human rights violations, human rights defenders continue to be harassed,marginalised and victims of repeated human rights violations. Impunity and alack of justice for past abuses also remain a serious concern.

The report analyses multiple forms of harassmentfacing human rights defenders while they try to do their work, including policesummons, disruption of assemblies and protests, police violence, propaganda andslandering, threats of organization closure, and deterrence from participatingin international and regional meetings. They remain the target of arbitraryarrests and detentions. Most of these violations are instigated by the police,members of the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF),militias and traditional leaders. The Censorship Board and the ProvincialGovernors also take a stance against anyone deemed to run counter the interestsof Zanu-PF.

Some of these acts are facilitatedby repressive legislation related to “public order”. These contribute tomaintaining an extensively restrictive environment impeding NGOs from carryingout their activities. In particular, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA)remains widely used to ban public meetings, further restraining freedom ofpeaceful assembly. The POSA, as well as the Access to Information and Protectionof Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Criminal Law (Law Reform and Codification) Actare still used to threaten, harass, criminalise and intimidate civil societyactors.

Thanks to a legal emergencyresponse project implemented by national NGOs, no human rights defender hasbeen convicted since 2003. However, despite judicial progress, authoritiescontinue to use excessive preventive detention to silence human rightsdefenders.

In such a grim situation, with areferendum for a new Constitution and the next general elections approaching,which shall take place respectively at the end of 2012 and in March 2013, theObservatory fears that once again human rights defenders will fall victim to apotential rise in violence and a crackdown on civil society due, in particular,to the substantiated collusion between security forces and the presidentialparty.

“Almostfour years after the conclusion of the GPA, and despite the repeated calls fromthe international community, the situation of human rights defenders inZimbabwe remains extremely perilous”, deploredSouhayr Belhassen, FIDH President. “Besides the need for radical change inthe authorities' methods, it is of vital importance that the reforming processbe completed in conformity to international and regional human rightsstandards. In particular, the first step is that a new Constitution has toenter into force as soon as possible in order to ensure that human rights areeffectively guaranteed”, she added.

“It is time that theZimbabwean authorities stop resorting to legislation that restrict fundamentalfreedoms as well as encouraging and condoning serious violations of the rightsof human rights defenders, including arbitrary arrests or acts of torture”,added Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General. “Accordingly, theauthorities must take all the necessary steps to ensure that human rightsdefenders are able to operate efficiently and without hindrances in thecountry, as well as to put an end to the climate of impunity that stillprevails within the society”, he concluded.

The Observatory hasrespectfully urged Zimbabwean authorities to pay close attention to itsrecommendations, to take the necessary steps to create and maintain a safe andconducive environment for human rights defenders to operate freely andefficiently in the country. This includes fully recognising the legitimate roleplayed by human rights organisations, releasing all human rights defendersdetained for exercising human rights activities, ending judicial harassment andfully investigating abuses faced by human rights defenders.

You can download the report at the following link: http://www.omct.org/files/2012/11/22036/zimbabwe_mission_report.pdf