In a document to the United Nations ahead of the universal periodic review of Zimbabwe set for October 2011, Amnesty said it was deeply worried by the lack of accountability by members of the security forces for violations against rights defenders and President Robert Mugabe’s rivals.
Zimbabwe’s security service is the bastion of Mugabe’s power since independence in 1980 and the army is blamed for the killing of some 20,000 people in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces after independence as Mugabe sought to quell an armed insurgency in the western region.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC is pushing for security sector reforms and accuses the military of leading a violent election campaign that returned Mugabe to power in June 2008 but left some 200 opposition members dead.
“Members of the security forces found to be responsible for human rights violations should be removed from their posts according to procedures which comply with the requirements of due process,” Amnesty said.
Security service chiefs in Zimbabwe openly support Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party and have frequently suggested that they will not allow Tsvangirai to take power even if he again wins the next presidential election.
In 2008 Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the presidential vote but the result was only announced after five weeks of delays, and the electoral commission called for a second round of voting when the military and intelligence services took over Mugabe’s bloody re-election campaign.
Amnesty said in its document up to 10,000 people were injured after being tortured, beaten and some women raped.
Law and Order Section
The international rights group said it had documented many cases where police were unable or unwilling to arrest and bring perpetrators of rights abuses to justice.
Amnesty said the government should “particularly prioritise reform of the Law and Order section and the anti-riot unit of the police, to ensure that these units are not used to perpetrate human rights violations”.
Members from the police Law and Order section, previously named Special Branch during white rule, is particularly notorious for using the repressive Public Order and Security Act to arrest political and human rights activists and block peaceful protests or rallies.
“Human rights defenders have been arbitrarily arrested and unlawfully detained for prolonged periods beyond the 48 hours prescribed by law,” Amnesty International said.
“While in police custody some of them report having been subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. Those injured as a result of police beatings during arrest and/or while in custody, are also denied access to medical care.”
In 2008, intelligence agents abducted rights activist Jestina Mukoko in a dawn raid, holding her incommunicado detention for three weeks, where she was tortured and accused of undergoing illegal military training in Botswana.
Several rights activists have been arrested and tortured recently.
Amnesty International said the government should provide water and sanitation, and health and schools to victims of the government’s controversial Operation Murambatsvina, which saw nearly 700,000 people evicted from illegal settlements in Zimbabwe’s urban areas.
Amnesty also said UN special rapporteurs on human rights defenders and on torture should visit Zimbabwe to get first hand information on the rights situation in the country.
Post published in: Politics