Lawyers organise Wednesday demonstration for human rights

By Violet Gonda
12 December 2006

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has announced that it will be conducting a belated march to commemorate International Human Rights Day. The group is expected to deliver a petition to the Supreme Court and the House of Parliament in Harare Wednesday. They say the aim is to expose the continued violations of human rights in the country.

Lawyer Otto Saki of the ZLHR said human rights day this year fell on a weekend so they decided to mark the occasion on a weekday, to stress the continued abuses by the Zimbabwe authorities. He urged all groups prepared to march in the streets to come and show their frustration with the deteriorating human rights situation.

The theme this year on Human Rights Day was “Fighting poverty as a matter of obligation and charity”. Saki said: “If you look at the life span of an ordinary Zimbabwean you will find it has been reduced tremendously.” He added that economically we have regressed terribly and gone beyond the oppressive days of Ian Smith before independence. Saki explained: “We find ourselves in a situation where the basic rights to decent standards of health, shelter and access to education have eroded away.”

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on Monday issued a report exposing serious violations by law enforcement agencies in Zimbabwe. According to the data compiled by the Forum, Zimbabwe’s police are the major perpetrators of human rights abuses. The report said the police have, since 2000, changed from a generally professional force to a force that is used by the ruling party to suppress all perceived opposition and retain power.

In hundreds of cases recorded by the Human Rights Forum the police were named as torturers and police premises as places of torture and other abuse. In September, despite an outcry from within and outside Zimbabwe, Mugabe issued statements encouraging the police after they used brutal force to quash street protests organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.