The Sunday Mail
Dr Elasto Mugwadi
ONE of the key functions of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) is the promotion of awareness of and respect for human rights and freedoms at all levels of society as provided for in Section 243 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
This function of awareness raising is central to effective implementation of the Commission’s constitutional mandate.
Without awareness of the existence of the ZHRC, its constitutional mandate and functions, the Declaration of Rights and its provisions as well as mechanisms for accessing the Commission’s services for redress of human rights violations, communities, particularly those in remote and marginalised areas of the country, fail to claim their rights.
Ultimately, through awareness of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the nation can foster a culture of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Commission has so far this year conducted over 75 community outreaches in different districts of the country namely Plumtree, Tsholotsho, Matobo, Bikita, Chipinge, and Hurungwe.
The Commission awareness raising via radio programmes reached millions of people as it partnered with Hevoi FM in Masvingo, YA FM in Zvishavane (Midlands Province), 98.4 FM in Gweru (Midlands Province) and Diamond FM in Mutare (Manicaland Province) to raise awareness on Covid-19 and its implications on human rights.
A total of 16 programmes were conducted.
Some of the issues raised during the outreaches include:
The use of excessive force by the police in enforcing Covid-19 regulations but this has since improved;
Inadequate water sources as most wards in visited districts have few boreholes;
Demand for bribes by the police from those in breach of Covid-19 regulations;
Low numbers of primary and secondary schools such that learners travel long distances (at times in excess of 10 kilometres) to get to the nearest schools;
Lack of ICT gadgets and infrastructure yet ICT is a subject that is examined in the Grade Seven public examinations and the need to teach children about rights and their corresponding responsibilities;
Increased delinquency of children with parents at a loss on how to effectively discipline them since corporal punishment has been outlawed;
Pfumvudza/Intwasa land preparations were said to be too laborious particularly for older persons and persons with disabilities yet it is a condition for receiving agricultural inputs under the programme; and
Necessity for Covid-19 mobile vaccination clinics since vaccination centres in some areas are too far away from some communities.
Investigations
The Commission conducted a total of 31 field investigations and several desk investigations through inquiry letters.
Some of the letters have been responded to, while others are still outstanding.
However, a number of cases have been resolved.
The biggest challenges in conducting investigations and securing responses during the Covid-19 era were the continued travel restrictions due to the pandemic.
Second Republic’s
reform programme
The bedrock of the reform agenda, I believe is the National Development Strategy 1(NDS1) and many accompanying programmes the Second Republic is implementing in order to realise an upper-middle income economy by 2030.
Of course these require buttressing by conducive and appropriate legal frameworks.
The Second Republic has embarked on various law reforms including the alignment of statutes to the Constitution to ensure incorporation of the robust Declaration of Rights, which now includes socio-economic and cultural rights, which were absent in the former constitution.
Some of the reforms include increase of the marital age to 18 for protection of the rights of the girl child against early or child marriages.
If one looks at reforms in the agricultural sector such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa, which is benefiting mostly vulnerable people in rural and vulnerable communities, it speaks to the eradication of poverty and hunger and therefore enhances the right to food and ultimately right to life.
Such programmes can only be plausible.
There are vast improvements in access to health care due to increase in facilities such as district hospitals as well as construction of schools in every province.
These are signs of the desire to promote the right to health and right to education, all of which are embodied in the Declaration of Rights.
I think the devolution programme will also promote easy access to vital human rights enhancement services by the general public.
One can also refer to infrastructural development such as the refurbishing of major roads and the construction of new ones which all facilitate movement and access to desired social services and basic amenities.
The housing projects which are ongoing, from what we hear, are improving access to shelter which is a basic fundamental human right.
Political reforms are intended to ensure equality and non-discrimination in various spheres of political life.
The right of freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of choice are all hallmarks of respect for democratic principles, for example, free choices at primary election levels which is now being experienced unlike in the past where candidates were sometimes imposed on the electorate.
UN Special Rapporteur visit
The Commission’s submissions to the rapporteur revolved around practical experiences and observations in the discharge of its human rights monitoring mandate.
The information shared with the rapporteur was therefore, factual and not hearsay.
We indicated that the unilateral coercive measures were not targeted at all because of the exclusion of the country from accessing international funding credit lines and the attendant closure of industry and other commercial entities that resulted in lack of income by principal breadwinners who lost their jobs.
This also led to skills flight as people sought greener pastures and therefore, retarding national development.
The negative effects impacted the general livelihood of families without distinction.
The Commission also highlighted that many marriages broke down because of the separation of spouses in search of greener pastures abroad.
From our observations, we indicated that the victims were mostly the vulnerable and marginalised groups of society including women, children, persons with disabilities, the sick in hospitals and persons with albinism as the latter could not easily access sunscreen lotions which could not be imported because of the economic downturn, and other minority groups.
Finally, the Commission recommended adoption of dialogue and constructive engagement by the international community with Zimbabwe to solve socio-political conflicts or any other challenges or differences.
We believe from what we captured from the rapporteur’s press release that she reported accurately because she rightly concluded that unilateral coercive measures had a negative impact on human rights and that they were not selective.
The Commission totally agrees with her in this respect.
Impact of Covid-19
The ZHRC like any other institution and everyone else in Zimbabwe was not prepared to experience an indefinite lockdown or to deal with a pandemic of such magnitude.
The pandemic, which was an emergency, found the ZHRC initially without a plan on how to discharge its mandate considering that most of the ZHRC programmes and work involve travelling to different places in the country to provide services for the general public.
When the first lockdown was introduced in March 2020, there was an immediate ban on movement and holding of public gatherings.
This meant that the ZHRC had to suspend its operations and could not conduct awareness raising activities, human rights mobile clinics, monitoring visits and investigations since these activities required travelling and holding of meetings and public gatherings.
Since the ZHRC was not included in the ambit of those providing essential services, it had to shut down initially but had at its own initiative to resume services after the first three weeks of the national lockdown in April 2020 due to increased complaints of violation of human rights by law enforcement agents which needed investigation.
In addition, the ZHRC did not have specific budgets for Covid-19, to enable its staff members to effectively work from home.
Covid-19 generally negatively impacted the ability of the Commission to carry out its work especially receiving of complaints at the different offices and responding to the cases speedily.
The lockdown that was imposed prevented the department from receiving walk-in clients and those received through the emergency numbers or hotlines could not be responded to on time.
Field investigations could also not be conducted as intercity travel was prohibited.
As a result, the complaints handling and investigations department still has a huge backlog.
The Commissioners also failed to hold full Commission meetings for consideration of cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic which also hampered the resolution of cases.
The scaling down of operations by Government departments also delayed responses in respect of inquiry letters written and engagement meetings planned.
In some instances, telephones remained unanswered.
Dr Elasto Mugwadi is chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission. This is an abridged version of his remarks in an interview with The Sunday Mail’s Kudakwashe Ruzive.
