Judge Navanethem Pillay set herself on a collision course with Robert
Mugabe in February when she voiced concern over the disappearance of
MDC officials, the reported use of torture to extract false confessions
and infringements of the independence of the judiciary. Speaking just
after the formation of the new government, Pillay said the long
drawn-out process to reach a political settlement was marked by the
perpetration of serious human rights violations and caused untold
damage to the rule of law in Zimbabwe. All eyes will be on this new
government to see if it can undo that damage,' Pillay added. Her
frankness endeared her to the general public in Zimbabwe but the
authorities loathed her for that and blocked efforts by her team to
visit the country for a fact finding mission. But Robert Mugabe this
week agreed to a high level visit by the human rights chief, as the
Zanu PF party leader seeks to clean up his act in the face of years of
gross human rights abuses.
Pillay is still awaiting finalisation of dates and visas, allowing her
to travel to Harare following agreement with Mugabe and Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa, that she can undertake the fact-finding
mission. The UN human rights chief has been waiting for almost two
months to get the green light from government for the visit. In that
time the humanitarian situation has worsened as the economic collapse
continues and the cholera epidemic destroyed the lives of thousands.
Irene Petras, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights (ZLHR), said they look forward to Pillay's proposed visit as
they have key issues to discuss with her team. We welcome any team
that tries to look at the past injustices in the country and set out
goals of what needs to be done to improve the situation,' Petras said.
She added; Although we have some movement in trying to bring change,
we cannot say the same with the democratization process. We still have
a lot of concerns as far as the rule of law is concerned, people still
cannot gather as a group and the media hasn't been opened up yet.' The
ZLHR hope the visiting rights team will provide technical assistance
and capacity-building for human rights defenders and state
institutions, such as the police and judiciary. Already, the ZLHR has
asked the human rights commissioner's office about questions of
constitutional processes and transitional justice – issues which are
currently bogging down the country's transition to democracy.
SWRadio Africa