Human rights lawyers urge government to uphold rule of law

Posted by on Thursday, December 8, 2011 in Human Rights, Zimbabwe politics | 0 comments

Munhumutapa building in Harare

By Tichaona Sibanda
8 December 2011

On Thursday human rights lawyers in Harare marched to the offices of Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and handed over petitions calling on the authorities to respect the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Dozens of lawyers set off from the High Court buildings in central Harare and marched to the Munhumutapa building, which houses Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s offices. They also visited the Attorney General and Supreme Court offices, where they also left petitions as part of commemorations for the International Human Rights day. The human rights lawyers also raised concerns about persistent reports of harassment and arrests of civil society activists and journalists in the last couple of months.

Our Harare correspondent, Simon Muchemwa, told us the police escorted the lawyers during the peaceful protest through the streets of the capital.

The march comes as Western diplomats in Harare and civil organizations are also publicly raising concerns about the resurgence of violence and abuse across the country, mostly perpetrated by ZANU PF militias.

They contend that Zimbabwe is still a country where people are still being harassed, intimidated, brutalized, and silenced, merely for holding different views from Mugabe and his party.

According to human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the ZANU PF part of the government still violates the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and freedom of assembly.

Assaults on the media have also continued and at least eight journalists from the independent media have been arrested and charged with criminal defamation this year alone.

In Bulawayo police blocked a march in the city by members of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights there. The authorities declined to sanction the march on the grounds it coincided with the official opening of the ZANU PF conference at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds.