Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights’ response to Newsday Article of 11 July 2012

This position paper was written by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in response to the following article in Newsday yesterday: http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2012-07-11-2008-killers–off-the-hook

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) continues to follow closely, and with interest, the progress relating to the operationalisation of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).

ZLHR commends the renewed commitment by the Minister of Justice & Legal Affairs, and Parliament, to finalise the legislation required to make the ZHRC functional. This is long overdue. It is also in line with recommendations to ensure that the ZHRC can commence its operations as soon as possible, as accepted by the Government of Zimbabwe during the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Zimbabwe held last year, and as strongly expressed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, during her visit to Zimbabwe earlier this year.

The importance of having an operational commission to deal with protection of human rights cannot be over-emphasised, particularly in a society where violations of fundamental rights and freedoms remain prevalent. The urgency of having a functional mechanism to investigate and deal with violations is further heightened where elections loom, and bearing in mind previous trends in Zimbabwe where such violations escalate in the run-up to, and following, key electoral and other political processes.

So too, Zimbabwe remains a country with immense challenges relating to the continuing culture of impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations. Without providing mechanisms to investigate and deal with past human rights violations – whether through trials, national enquiries, reparations, memorialisation, amongst other means – our society will never be able to escape the vicious cycle of impunity or ensure non-recurrence of such heinous crimes.

There has been much debate and speculation in relation to the emotive issue of the temporal jurisdiction of the ZHRC, which has been set in the ZHRC Bill as 13 February 2009 – a date agreed by the three negotiating political parties.

ZLHR has also noted the intention of the government to establish a national mechanism that will deal with issues relating to post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation separately from the ZHRC, although precise details as to the ambit of such a mechanism remain sparse. This accords with regional and continental good practice, where human rights institutions and truth/justice/reconciliation commissions have traditionally been separate mechanisms.

ZLHR is of the considered view that there is urgent need to approve the legislation that will operationalise the ZHRC and allow it to substantively commence its functions. It is a critical institution in the difficult battle to reduce, stop and/or prevent ongoing and future human rights violations in Zimbabwe. It must be fully functional in order to play its role as elections approach. Resistance in relation to the issue of temporal jurisdiction is delaying such operationalisation and ensuring that the ZHRC cannot act on any ongoing and future human rights violations.

At the same time the political parties in government must, with urgency and guided by the recommendations made by survivors of past human rights violations, establish an independent mechanism to deal with issues relating to past human rights violations and atrocities. The mandate of this independent mechanism must be to deal with all past human rights violations that have occurred in Zimbabwe, including the pre-Independence era, as well as the post-Independence atrocities of Gukurahundi, Operation Murambatsvina, and electoral-related crimes, amongst others.

It is the role of government to ensure the speedy establishment of such an independent and credible mechanism. However political parties, trade unions, the broad civil society, non-governmental organisations, and survivors of violations and their families, must also ensure that they play their role in ensuring that sufficient pressure is brought to bear on the government to make this a reality and to do so with urgency.

Further, and for the avoidance of any doubt, it must be clearly understood and stressed that crimes committed in the past remain crimes, whether or not a national human rights institution or other mechanism exists to deal with past human rights violations. Government, political players and other perpetrators of violations must disabuse themselves of the notion that the creation of such mechanisms removes responsibility and punishment for such crimes.

There is a constitutional and legal obligation on the police, the prosecutorial authorities and the judiciary to respectively investigate and arrest, prosecute, and punish convicted perpetrators. ZLHR expects these constitutional duties to be carried out without fear or favour, and will continue to exercise its watchdog role in this regard.

Creating Schools as Zones of Peace.

One of the best celebrated statistics in Zimbabwe over the years since Independence in 1980 has been the high literacy rate largely as a result of the policy of providing basic education to every child up to Ordinary level (Form 4). The policy also ensured the construction of schools throughout the country and deliberate efforts were made to encourage adult learning. These gains are under threat, unfortunately, and it all has to do with the politics of contestation. RAU recently published a report documenting teachers’ experiences with election violence since 2000, with teachers reporting that they were subjected to targeted violence because they were perceived as sympathisers of opposition political parties.

The report revealed that schools were setup as militia bases, leading up to and during election periods, where teachers were summoned for various acts including assaults, being taught the liberation history of Zimbabwe, among others. Some of the military activities took place in front of children during working hours, where teachers were violated, humiliated and, in some cases, female teachers sexually abused. The message was clear for all children to warn their parents how “sell-outs” would be dealt with. And interestingly, some students became informants, keeping an eye on their teachers, who had to find survival strategies by way of fleeing the communities resulting in more than 94% of schools in the rural areas being closed at one point.

Rural Schoolchildren in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is not in a state of war but the periods around elections, since 2000, frequently resembled a state of war, reminiscent of the liberation war, where villagers and communities would flee and schools would close. The United Nations Security Council in July 2011 unanimously adopted Resolution 1998 which affirmed other earlier resolutions on the protection of children in situations of armed conflict, declaring “schools and hospitals off limits for both armed groups and military activities, asking the Secretary-General for such crimes to be placed on a list of those committing “grave violations against children.” The text of Resolution 1998 expressed concern about attacks and the threat of attacks on schools and/or hospitals, including attacks on personnel in relation to them and the closure of the institutions in times of conflict and threat of attack.

As a member state of the United Nations, Zimbabwe must take positive steps to refrain from attacks on education and advance the rights of Children. The positive steps would be to take action and stop violence and the exposure of children to violence during times of elections. That commitment could also be demonstrated by putting in place legislation that prevents the use of schools for political purposes, because this practice exposes children to violence. The commitment would unite communities in defending the rights of children, especially girls. It would   ensure that schools were safe zones for learning, especially in rural areas where the highest incidences of violence was recorded, and also that traditional leaders were not ZANU PF bootlickers who terrorise teachers because they are perceived to be opposition members.

Promoting the right to education is a sure sign that a country is investing in human capital. The concept of “Safe Schools” is incomplete without also ensuring that the personnel associated with education is safe. Through the Education Transitional Fund (ETF) the child text book ratio has improved but the political hindrances have also to be addressed, and this is the challenge Minister Coltart must address. We cannot afford to continuously have schools attain a zero percentage “pass rate” because schools were closed for the better part of the year and also because politicians use school facilities for electioneering.

If you would like to read our 2 reports written as a result of our teachers’ survey go to: http://www.researchandadvocacyunit.org

When the Teachers are Safe, the Children will Thrive.

“We also worry about the physical security of the teachers. Teachers are held in high regard — especially in the rural areas — where the ZANU-PF has traditionally been relatively strong. Teachers are usually victimized during elections, because people vote in schools and teachers are viewed as sympathetic to the opposition. My worry is that in case of renewed violence, teachers will be targeted and leave again.” [1]

These words from the Honourable Minister of Education, David Coltart, are extremely important, and speak to one of the great problems that face rural Zimbabweans whenever we face elections. Schools, teachers and the pupils face serious risk of being involved in the inevitable political violence and intimidation that accompanies elections. Recent research by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe [PTUZ] and the Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU] indicates the scale of the problem. See the results of the research below: [http://www.researchandadvocacyunit.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=187&Itemid=90].

In this national survey, slightly more than half of the teachers interviewed had had a direct experience of violence since 2000, and, shockingly, half of these reported that this violence had taken place during working hours at school. This obviously meant that this was witnessed by the pupils. Most schools in the rural areas of Zimbabwe are primary schools, and this means that very young children are being exposed to violence. The implication of this for the long-term development of our children as citizens requires deep thought: if the model they have for politics is one of violence and intimidation, what kinds of citizens will they develop into?

Teacher in Rural Zimbabwean School

Worse than this, perhaps, is the demonstration to the children of intolerance to diversity of opinion. A major goal of any education system must be the encouragement of the learner to think and explore, and there can be no greater disincentive to creativity of thought than the crude attack on teachers for holding views that a political party disagrees with. When teachers in Zimbabwe are fearful of encouraging free thinking, when pupils are taught to disrespect teachers for their personal views, then the whole education enterprise is in serious jeopardy.

The basis of all democracies, no matter how they are organized, must be respect for others, tolerance of difference, and freedom to be critical. Without these, democracy fails, as Amrtya Sen has pointed out, and the corollary is that development will also fail. And these values are inculcated in the home, reinforced in school and church, and then implemented in life. So school is such an important part of the process of developing real democrats.

Therefore, the protection of teachers and learners is critical to national development, and we must urgently take steps to provide this protection. The Minister needs not merely to worry about the future, but ensure that all schools are off-limits to political activities: no more rallies, no more youth militia attacking teachers, no more children seeing their teachers beaten or humiliated. This is the priority for education, for what use are books and pens if the teachers are not there to guide the pupils. Our most precious resource is not materials, but people!

 

 

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[1] Statement made in an interview with Marian Tupy, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity in Washington DC recently.

Violence Against Teachers in Zimbabwe

The following is a summary of our latest report which  is a follow-up of a report published earlier in February titled, “Every School has a Story to Tell: Teachers experience with elections in Zimbabwe”. Whilst the first report is largelygiven in summary form, recording the violations that teachers have experienced since 2000, thisreport provides a deeper understanding of the violations and puts them in a global perspective. The report feeds into a broad campaign to promote the Right to Education by calling for the criminalisation of attacks on education and educational institutions. It bridges the gap and provides knowledge of the existence and extent of attacks on education in Zimbabwe.

One of the key observations is that Zimbabwe, though not in a state of war, is listed amongst 9 countries that are leading in the attack on education. This is largely due to the fact that during every election since 2000, the country resembles a state of war as a result of state-sponsored violence. But the attacks on education and militarisation of educational institutions have escaped the attention they deserve and have only been reported under general human rights violations.

The extent of the continued occurrence of attacks on education contradicts the claims of high literacy rate figures in Zimbabwe.

A Rural Classroom in Zimbabwe

Importantly, the two reports lay a strong foundation for further research to aid the campaign to declare schools as safe zones for peace. These areas in need of further investigation would include specific aspects of the military involvement in education and political use.

Some of the key findings of the report include the following;

• · The age group of the teachers had an effect of whether teachers experienced or witnessed violence. The younger the teachers, the more prone they were to attacks. 18% of the sample was under the age of 30 and was unlikely to disclose their political or trade union affiliation because of the associated dangers.
  

• · Affiliation to a trade union also had a bearing on whether one was attacked. 66% of the respondents refused to disclose their trade union affiliation as well as their political party affiliation. It is most likely that those associated with a trade union recorded high incidences of attack.
  

• · The study also established that most violations that took place against teachers did so during school hours, or at the very least in full view of school children. This has long term effects on violence on the society as violence breeds violence.
  

• · Since schools are major focal points for community activities, and mostly community enhancing activities, this abuse of school facilities is extremely serious, especially, as was pointed out above, where children can be exposed to very damaging events. From the current data it is not possible to determine whether the bases identified were at schools or not: in the design of the study, it was felt to be too threatening to ask this question of the teachers.
  

• · 242 teachers stated that there was a base in their area, with bases mentioned in 46 Districts within Zimbabwe. 122 teachers could identify the commander by name, and the most important observation is that the bases fell under the command of officers with military background.
  

The report concludes with a number of recommendations as follows:

1. The Government of Zimbabwe must immediately declare schools as zones of peace and as such enact laws that restrict and criminalise the use or occupation of schools for political activities, especially during the electoral period.

2.   Civic society and teacher unions must develop monitoring systems to detect early warning systems of attacks on education and to report political disturbances in schools in compliance with UN Resolution No. 1612 with additional modifications relevant to the situation in Zimbabwe.

3.   The Ministry of Education in conjunction with critical stakeholders like the police, parents and teacher unions must set up school protection committees so that social services rendered by schools are not interrupted during times of conflict like elections.

4.    The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) must actively investigate all reports involving political violence and intimidation against teachers, and at schools.

5.    The government must uphold strictly provisions of paragraph 20 to the First Schedule of Statutory Instrument 1 of 2000 (Public Service Regulations, 2000) and clauses 79, 80and 81 of the ILO/UNESCO Recommendations concerning the Status of Teachers to negate the current insistence on teachers being compelled to support only one political party.

6.    The Ministry of Education must introduce civic education in the primary and secondary school curriculum which promotes national cohesion, peace and tolerance.

7.    The process of national healing, if ever it is ever going to take off meaningfully, should have a thematic area dealing with the education sector in order to restore the social bond between teachers and communities which has been weakened by recurrent election violence and politicisation of the public service.

8.    Overall compliance with the spirit and letter of the GPA is strongly recommended in order to curb on institutionalised violence.

For the full report go to our website: http://www.reasearchandadvocacyunit.org