Amnesty calls for UN investigation into security sector

Amnesty International is calling for the United Nations to send in a special team to look into the human rights abuses carried out by Zimbabwe’s security sector. The move is contained in the findings of a report Amnesty will present to the UN for its October 2011 periodic review of Zimbabwe.

by SW Radio Africa

Amnesty’s call comes at a time when there are growing demands from civic society, political parties such as the MDC-T, and SADC, for the security sector to be reformed.

Last week the Harare-based Research and Advocacy Unit also released a report which showed that the security sector is still actively being used by Mugabe and ZANU PF to torture and oppress women in order to keep them out of the political process. It also brought out the direct role of the ZANU PF militia in the violence.

In its report, Amnesty outlines growing cases of torture and abuse of human rights defenders in the country, at the hands of the security sector. It said a thorough and independent investigation needs to be carried out.

The organisation wants the Zimbabwe government to invite a UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and a special rapporteur on torture to visit the country.

“Members of the security forces found to be responsible for human rights violations should be removed from their posts according to procedures which comply with the requirements of due process,” the report says; it also says those responsible for the violence should be brought to justice.

“The organisation is deeply concerned at the persistent failure to hold to account members of the security forces for human rights violations against human rights defenders and opponents of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, including unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment,” the report states.

Abel Chikomo, director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, welcomed Amnesty’s call. “We continue to see a lot of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and indeed a lot of persecution under the guise of prosecution,” he said. “We welcome any move by any respected human rights body, especially the United Nations, if they had to come and try and investigate what is going on in the country; because sometimes when people like ourselves here speak, we are quickly labelled ad dismissed.”

“It is only up to those who can come in and see for themselves what we are talking about that they can then be able to appreciate the difficulties that people go through here,” he added.


(2011-8-10/thezimbabwean)