Zimbabwe lawyers march to parliament and Supreme Court

By Violet Gonda
12 December 2006

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and several civic groups, successfully marched in Harare on Wednesday to commemorate a belated International Human Rights Day. The rights defenders, who were able to plant a human rights tree at Harare Gardens, also delivered a petition with their concerns to the Supreme Court.

Various civic organizations including the pressure groups Women of Zimbabwe Arise, National Constitutional Assembly, Zimrights, NANGO and the Law Society of Zimbabwe, marched in solidarity.

Earlier the group had marched to the Houses of Parliament but Rangu Nyamurundira of the ZLHR said they were told that the Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was not available. He said a parliamentary official refused to take the document. Although Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku was not available the Registrar of the Supreme Court accepted the petition on his behalf.

The theme this year on Human Rights Day was “Fighting poverty as a matter of obligation and charity”. The ZLHR petition highlighted the suffering of Zimbabweans and the abuse of economic and social rights.

Nyamurundira said the main concerns in the petition include, rising inflation, displacement of victims of Operation Murambatsvina who are still living in very poor conditions and their rights not being recognised, torture and assault of human rights defenders by state authorities and the unavailability of ARVs. He said the issue of corruption, such as at the steel manufacturer ZISCO, also violates the economic rights of Zimbabweans.

The ZLHR also condemned the establishment of a Human Rights Commission by a government that continues to violate people’s rights. The group said draconian laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) should be repealed.