Human Rights Forum report shows shock rise in abuses

By Lance Guma
01 March 2007

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (ZHRF) has released a report showing a shocking increase in human rights violations in 2006. The organisation compared incidents recorded in 2005 with those for 2006 and says the year was ‘the worst yet for the number of violations reported.’ ZHRF groups together 16 human rights groups whose mandate is to provide legal and psychological assistance to victims of organised violence, political or otherwise. The group has called for serious reform in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, saying the force should desist from resorting to torture when dealing with either political activists or common criminals.

The group says despite no major election in 2006 the figures were surprisingly high. Over 5792 cases of human rights violations were recorded in 2006 compared with 4200 in 2005. Cases of violence are usually prominent in election years like 2005 when the country witnessed both parliamentary and senate elections. The group also recorded 11 abductions, 509 assaults, 3 attempted murders, 7 death threats, 58 property violations and 368 school closures in 2006.

The forum also says its 2006 figures constitute 27 percent of all its figures since it started recording human rights violations in July 2001. In 2006, 2917 cases of unlawful arrest and detention were recorded in contrast to 1286 in 2005. Torture cases doubled in 2006 from 136 to 368. These included the torture of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions leaders and supporters in September soon after a planned demonstration was brutally crushed by the police and the same treatment meted out to students from Bindura State University in May following a student protest.

Eileen Sawyer the Director of the forum says the figures contained in their reports are those they were able to record, adding that many other cases went unreported, especially incidents in the rural areas. She stressed the organisation did not have a political agenda and strives to do its job professionally. Sawyer says they distribute their reports locally and internationally adding that even parliamentary portfolio committees get the reports, so as to encourage debate.

N.B: Don’t miss the full interview with Eileen Sawyer on Behind the Headlines with Lance Guma, this Thursday. The interview will also be available on our archives for the next 2 weeks.

Read the latest Human Rights Forum violence report