Ending Zimbabwe s Conflict: Finding synergy in human rights and conflict resolution approaches

Transcription

1 Ending Zimbabwe s Conflict: Finding synergy in human rights and conflict resolution approaches Remarks of Archi Pyati, Senior Associate, Human Rights Defenders Program, Human Rights First, to the Center for Human Rights & Conflict Resolution at the Fletcher School of International Affairs in Medford, MA November 19, 2004 Under President Robert Mugabe, a serious human rights and humanitarian crisis has developed in Zimbabwe. In order to stifle political dissent, the government has adopted a range of tactics, including attacks on human rights defenders, multiple arrests and harassment of political dissidents, repressive legislation restricting media, and intimidation of judges. Through human rights violations, the government has fomented political unrest, famine, and violence. Human rights are at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe, and a lasting end to the turmoil cannot take place until basic human rights are respected by the government. Although human rights abuse has been part of Zimbabwe s history since the time of colonial rule, President Mugabe s government began a new phase of human rights violations in recent years. In 2000, when the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), won a significant number of seats in Parliament, the government s momentum to crush the political opposition and silence human rights and civil society organizations increased. Strikes and demonstrations organized by the opposition, trade unions, and civil society groups have been met with hundreds of arrests and short-term detentions. The government established a National Youth Service Training Programme to create militias of young, armed men to enforce its policies. The youth militias have been responsible for intimidating, raping, torturing, beating, and murdering civilians. Although their brutality has been documented by human rights groups, the government continues to expand this program. In fact, four new youth training camps are being set up in Zimbabwe in the coming weeks. With Parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2005, many Zimbabweans fear that if they participate in voter education or related activities they will be targeted by the youth militia, or other paramilitary groups supported by the ruling party like the so-called war veterans. One component of the crisis that began in 2000 is the fast-track land redistribution project. There were serious inequities in land distribution among blacks and whites after the colonial era, but instead of using nonviolent legal channels, the government rushed to deploy militias and seize the land through violence and intimidation, violating the rights of both land owners and farm workers. Zimbabweans saw a dramatic decline in farm output, and, in turn, a devastating food shortage throughout the country. Whereas in the 1990s Zimbabwe provided assistance to its neighbors, by 2003 the World Food Program was feeding 5.5 million Zimbabweans, and the Famine Early Warning System placed Zimbabwe on its hunger emergency list.

2 Despite the obvious food shortage, in May 2004, President Mugabe turned away offers to continue food aid, leaving millions of Zimbabweans unnecessarily hungry. The agricultural minister himself said that the government wants to be the only one with food. This unchecked control over the withholding and distribution of food, believed by many to be a political tactic to reinforce the government s control over the population, is having fatal results. The government is willingly allowing its citizens to starve, compounding the human rights and humanitarian crisis. Human rights defenders, journalists, and humanitarian organizations, who monitor and expose these violations, have been particular targets of the government over the last few years. Several repressive laws have been passed which allow the government to harass, intimidate, arrest, and punish defenders and journalists for their work well within the boundaries of the law. For example, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), adopted in 2002, effectively bans any assembly without police permission. Permission to assemble is rarely granted to nongovernment organizations, human rights groups, labor unions, or political organizations, and organizers of such meetings are subject to civil and criminal liability. POSA seriously violates the rights to freedom of assembly, association, expression and movement, and it is often disproportionately applied to political activists and human rights defenders. Among hundreds of others, Dr. Lovemore Madhuku, the chair of the National Constitutional Assembly, has been arrested under POSA and severely beaten on multiple occasions. Under another recent law, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), journalists in Zimbabwe are required to register with a largely governmentappointed media commission or face criminal prosecution. Under both AIPPA and POSA, many journalists and news outlets have been targeted, harassed, or shut down altogether. The Daily News, the main independent newspaper, had its offices attacked on several occasions and was eventually shut down by the police as it tried to continue publishing without being registered under the terms of the AIPPA. Journalists have also been among the victims of serious physical abuse. During public strikes held in March and June 2003, journalists covering the protests were arrested and physically assaulted, as well as having equipment confiscated. Several foreign journalists and news organizations have been banned from the country. By the end of 2004, President Mugabe will impose even stricter registration requirements on journalists. Journalists who do not register with the state commission would face harsh criminal and monetary penalties. The law will likely deter journalists including journalists from other countries from attempting to report on the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe. The government s accountability to Zimbabweans and the international community decreases with stifled independent journalistic reporting on human rights abuses. In an attempt to further silence dissenting views as the March 2005 parliamentary elections approach, the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill 2004, passed by Parliament on November 17, 2004, gives the Zimbabwean government broad powers to 2

3 order the closure nongovernmental organizations such as church-based charities and human rights organizations. The new law places a muzzle on NGOs ability to protect human rights. It will also serve to further amiserate the people of Zimbabwe since its passage jeopardizes vital humanitarian assistance programs even those operated by churches on which millions of Zimbabweans depend for their subsistence. Nongovernmental organizations in Zimbabwe, including organizations affiliated with churches, perform a critical role in assisting the many people affected by the continuing political crisis. Church leaders in Zimbabwe including the Bulawayo diocesan branch of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Christians Together for Justice and Peace, and Solidarity Peace Trust jointly stated that this bill has a deeply sinister purpose, to disable all NGOs which the ruling party perceives to represent a threat to their continuing brutal hold to power. The Association of Evangelicals in Africa held a conference in Bulawayo last week where a high-powered delegation of church leaders from South Africa joined their Zimbabwean colleagues in condemning the NGO Bill. Just as Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo was preparing to speak, dozens of Central Intelligence Organization operatives stormed in to effectively halt the conference. The next day, however, the Archbishop was able to deliver his remarks. Dozens of women who marched across the nation in protest of the bill were arrested and jailed under POSA in October Despite these efforts, the ruling party in Zimbabwe is using its parliamentary majority to effectively suspend the Constitution, allowing it to pass a raft of bills already deemed unconstitutional by Parliament s own legal committee to avoid having to comply with constitutional rights safeguards. During rushed sessions, parliament is passing more laws to severely limit the basic freedoms of association, movement, speech and press. As these laws are passed, news agencies and nongovernmental organizations trying to educate the population, monitor the ongoing human rights crisis, and provide humanitarian assistance to Zimbabweans using foreign aid will be unable to do so. In these conditions of oppression through legislation, citizens must rely on their judicial system to uphold basic rights. An independent judiciary would be essential to achieve stability and the rule of law, but in Zimbabwe, the judiciary has come under sustained governmental pressure since early Through general intimidation as well as specific threats, several senior judges who demonstrated their independence from government influence have been removed. In early 2001, Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was among those forced to step down. In March 2002, another Supreme Court judge known for his independence, Judge Ahmed Ebrahim, also announced his resignation, only days after issuing a ruling that declared President Mugabe's electoral amendments prior to the presidential election illegal. Judges and magistrates have also been physically attacked and arrested. In August 2002, a magistrate in Chipinge was assaulted by a mob of so-called war veterans after he handed down a ruling in favor of two MDC party members. In September, former High Court Justice Fergus Blackie was arrested and detained for several days, without adequate food, clothing, and necessary medication, in apparent retaliation for an earlier 3

4 ruling in which he had found the Minister of Justice in contempt of court. Justice Blackie was charged with violating the Prevention of Corruption Act, although these charges were dropped in June 2003, due to lack of evidence. Magistrate Judge Caroline Chigumira has been arrested and jailed several times for carrying out her duties in the courtroom. Lawyers in Zimbabwe who have sought to uphold basic constitutional and human rights have also been subjected to attack and persecution. Lawyers are harassed, threatened, and obstructed, particularly in cases where their clients are MDC members. Many lawyers report incidents where they have been denied access to their clients or have been given false or misleading information by the police in an effort to prevent them from performing their tasks. Lawyers have also, on occasion, been themselves arrested and physically abused by police as they have sought to represent their clients. The government of Zimbabwe is responsible for flagrant human rights violations but does so under the umbrella of repressive legislation and with impunity due to its control of the courts. Zimbabwean church leaders, journalists and human rights defenders have tried to advocate for human rights and provide humanitarian assistance by reaching out to the international community, but they are labeled stooges of the West and disgruntled white farmers. Civil society groups are accused of being threats to national security when they criticize the Mugabe regime to foreign NGOs and governments. This branding of human rights defenders in government controlled media propaganda, coupled with the threat of arrest or attack by militias, makes it more difficult for local groups to mobilize the people of Zimbabwe to speak out against their government. Yet it is also difficult for other national governments or international bodies to influence Zimbabwean domestic policy. When accused of violating basic rights, the Mugabe government simply dismisses such allegations as part of a western neo-colonial conspiracy designed to destabilize the government and reassert white (British) control. The government s reactions have been remarkably effective in deterring condemnation on an international level. As a member of the Southern African Development Commission (SADC) and other networks that link southern African nations, the Zimbabwe government could be influenced by its regional counterparts. With this in mind, Human Rights First, along with DITSHWANELO, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, held an African Civil Society Consultation on Zimbabwe in Gaborone, Botswana, in August This meeting provided an opportunity for Zimbabwean human rights and civil society activists to meet with their counterparts from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia to exchange information, ideas, experience and strategies. Significantly, Zimbabwean participants shared details about the nature of the situation in Zimbabwe to counter the tremendous amount of misinformation that exists in the region concerning the crisis. At the closing of the Consultation, the participants adopted a Concluding Statement condemning the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and called 4

5 for urgent action by regional governments and institutions, as well as the international community, to end serious human rights violations in the country. In December 2003, a group of participants from the Consultation issued an End of Year statement, reiterating their concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe and calling once again for regional and international action. Church leaders from South Africa are taking the lead in educating the public about the crisis in Zimbabwe and in encouraging regional governments to speak loudly against the lack of democratic processes and checks and balances in the government. The upcoming March election must be conducted fairly and freely to bring legitimacy to the results and stability to the country, which is in the best interest of the whole region. With lessened media coverage and NGO monitoring, intimidation or attacks on the voting population will likely increase in the next few months. External monitors from regional countries who represent a range of civil society organizations would help to encourage a democratic election process. Regardless of the outcome of these elections, or perhaps any in the future, human rights must be protected by the Zimbabwean government and safeguarded in an independent judicial system. Without checks and balances between the branches of government and accountability before a judiciary that is unthreatened, an end to the crisis in Zimbabwe is not going to possible to sustain. Human rights must be the central focus in any discussion of a resolution to the political upheaval in Zimbabwe. In the 1980s, Human Rights First engaged in research and advocacy concerning human rights in Zimbabwe. This work resulted in the publication of Wages of War, which revealed details of massacres carried out in the Matabeleland region. In late 2001, reports of attacks upon and threats against human rights defenders and political leaders, some of whom were our partners during the 1980s, led to action by the Human Rights Defender Program. We continue to monitor such threats and attacks and to advocate strongly for the ending of all human rights abuses and the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. 5