INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION

the global voice of the legal profession

Monday, 12 January 2009

Zimbabwe: IBA calls on SADC to act on detained activists and to push for accountability against Robert Mugabe’s government

Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) must act to ensure that detained activists in Zimbabwe are released, the International Bar Association (IBA) said today.

‘SADC has an obligation to act on the crimes of Robert Mugabe’s government,’ said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association. ‘To date SADC has blocked outside initiatives to hold Mugabe’s regime accountable for its abuses and has been silent while international law is violated with impunity,’ he commented further.

At least 40 people including a two-year old boy and the prominent human rights group leader, Jestina Mukoko, are being detained in Zimbabwe in a fresh campaign of persecution and prosecution. The detainees, many of whom are members of the Movement for Democratic Change party, were abducted in November and December from various locations and held incommunicado for weeks. The Minister of State for National Security, Mr Didymus Mutasa who is responsible for intelligence operations, has since admitted in court proceedings that state security agents seized and detained a wide array of individuals on his orders.

While nine are now known to be in police custody and have appeared in court, many are still missing and unaccounted for. A doctor who examined some of the detainees testified in court that they have been tortured and need medical treatment. A High Court judge ruled that their detention is unlawful and ordered that they be taken to a hospital for medical treatment, but government lawyers are challenging his ruling and police have refused to obey the court order.

The IBA deplores the inaction of SADC leaders on the unlawful actions of the Zimbabwean government. ‘Regional leaders cannot stand by while these unlawful detentions continue in Zimbabwe and still ask the rest of the international community to wait on them to solve the crisis. A key term of the power-sharing deal was that rights violations would stop,’ said Co- Chair of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute, Justice Richard Goldstone.

‘The Mugabe regime is clearly failing to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens of Zimbabwe. This places a responsibility on other governments, and especially those of the SADC, to intervene,’ Justice Goldstone concluded.