Zimbabwe: Commonwealth Must Act

(New York, January 29, 2002) Presidential elections scheduled for March
9-10 in Zimbabwe are highly unlikely to be free and fair, Human Rights
Watch charged in a submission to the Commonwealth (available online at:
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/zimbabwe/) today.

In its submission to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, meeting
in London on January 30, Human Rights Watch said that the government of
President Robert Mugabe had intimidated opponents, imposed legal
restrictions on them, and engaged in extensive political violence.

Unless the Zimbabwe government immediately fulfilled a set of minimum
conditions it should face the threat of suspension from the
international organization at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting, due in March.

“Respect for human rights in Zimbabwe has deteriorated rapidly over the
last two years,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the
Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. “The Commonwealth should insist
that President Mugabe take immediate steps to end political violence and
restore the rule of law.”

In the last few weeks, parliament in Zimbabwe has passed or introduced
new legislation that will drastically infringe several constitutional
rights, including freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and of the
media, and freedom of movement. Journalists and newspaper vendors are
subject to constant harassment, threats, and violence by the police and
by government-sponsored militia.

On September 8, 2001, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG),
established in 1995 to monitor Commonwealth member states’ respect for
democracy and the rule of law, brokered an agreement with the Zimbabwe
government. At the September meeting in the Nigerian capital of Abuja,
Zimbabwe agreed to end illegal occupations of farms, promoted by the
government since February 2000, and respect the rule of law. In return,
the United Kingdom and other “international partners” pledged to support
the land reform process.

Thousands of Zimbabweans, almost all of them presumed supporters of the
opposition, farmers and farm workers, have been the victims of political
and land-related violence since the Abuja agreement.

At its January 30 meeting, the CMAG will consider whether formally to
place Zimbabwe on its agenda—that is, to review its compliance with the
fundamental standards, principles and values of the organization.

Human Rights Watch believes that Zimbabwe should be placed on the CMAG
agenda and that the government should be given a series of clearly
specified conditions that it must immediately fulfill. These conditions
include:

Withdrawal or repeal of legislation in violation of constitutional
rights and restrictive of political activity; Clear public instructions
to the police and other law enforcement agencies that perpetrators of
public violence should be dealt with, with the full force of the law;
Prompt disciplinary and judicial measures against police and other law
enforcement officers who fail to adhere to these instructions.

The immediate cessation of violence, accompanied by these minimum steps,
would begin to re-establish an environment in which political debate can
take place freely, Human Rights Watch said.

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