The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Zimbabwe.
Brief description:
According to the information received, on October 25, 2005, ZLHR received a call around 10:00 pm to be informed that five field officers of the Mass Public Opinion Institute, Mr. Officen Nyaungwe, Mr. Claris Madhuku, Mr. Sozwaphi Masunungure, Mr. Isaiah Makatura and Mr. Wilson Shonhiwa had been abducted and severely beaten by a group calling themselves "war veterans". The authors of the call also gave information about the vehicle in which these five persons were travelling when they got captured.
The five field officers were conducting a research titled "Africa Barometer", a project of democracy in Africa in a small farming community outside Harare called "Beatrice". The research basically entailed asking and administering a questionnaire onto willing individuals on the perceptions and notions of democracy in Africa and Zimbabwe. While carrying out the survey, the researchers were confronted, abducted and detained by individuals calling themselves war veterans. They were then presented to a local community of over 100 people, where upon after being accused of acting against national interests, the group of "war veterans", who did not identify themselves, began to beat them up in full view of the community, using booted feet, clenched fists, open palms, sticks, logs and bottles. Then a soldier from the Zimbabwe National Army dressed in full military uniform arrived at the scene and immediately joined in the beatings. The soldier used fresh sticks and logs hew as cutting from the trees around. The assaults were largely indiscriminate but mainly focused on the buttocks, underneath the feet and head area.
In the course of the assault, the "war veterans" and soldier demanded identification cards from the five field officers. Upon production of the cards, one of the field officers, Mr. Claris Madhuku, was then established to be a relative of Mr. Lovemore Madhuku, Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and a well known human rights defender and constitutional activist (See Observatory Urgent Appeal ZWE 002/0805/OBS 068 and Observatory Annual Report 2004). This incensed the assailants resulting in more severe beatings on Mr. Claris Madhuku, the assailants advising the latter that he now was being beaten "for the sins of his brother". The assaults lasted approximately three hours.
The field researchers were then admitted for treatment at the Avenues Clinic. Three were discharged after treatment while two were hospitalised and detained overnight for monitoring as they sustained severe injuries.
The mission of the Mass Public Opinion Institute, which is based in Harare, is "to promote and strengthen democratic governance through research, publishing and facilitating discussion of public opinion on topical issues thereby connecting policy makers with the citizens they serve; to facilitate the destruction of the "culture of fear" by encouraging people to express their views on issues that are of concern to them; to become a permanent organisation that promotes and encourages the institutionalisation of democracy in Zimbabwe", through the realisation of public opinion surveys.
Up to now, the field officers have not formally reported to the police as they are concerned about the impunity on acts committed by state and/or non-state actors acting with the acquiescence or participation of the state law enforcement agents.
The Observatory is deeply concerned about these events, which blatantly violate the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 12.2, which states that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure, adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration".
Actions requested:
Please write to the Zimbabwean authorities and ask them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Officen Nyaungwe, Mr. Claris Madhuku, Mr. Sozwaphi Masunungure, Mr. Isaiah Makatura and Mr. Wilson Shonhiwa, and all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe;
ii. Conduct a fair, impartial and independent inquiry into these and other events of attacks of human rights defenders, in order to identify the authors, bring them to justice and pronounce sentences proportional to the gravity of their crimes to bring about an end to impunity prevailing in the country;
iii. end all forms of harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, and guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders and organisations are able to carry out their work without any hindrance;
iv. comply with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and above-mentioned article 12.2;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by Zimbabwe.
Addresses:
– President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert G. Mugabe, Office of the President, Private Bag 7700, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 708 211
– Mr. Khembo Mohadi, Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, 11th Floor Mukwati Building, Private Bag 7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 726 716
– Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Legal nd Parliamentary Affairs, Fax: + 263 4 77 29 99
– Mr. Augustine Chihuri, Police Commissioner, Police Headquarters, P.O. Box 8807, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 253 212 / 728 768 / 726 084
– Mr. Sobuza Gula Ndebele, Attorney-General, Office of the Attorney, PO Box 7714, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263 4 77 32 47
– Mrs. Chanetsa, Office of the Ombudsman Fax: + 263 4 70 41 19
– Ambassador Mr. Chitsaka Chipaziwa, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the United Nations in Geneva, Chemin William Barbey 27, 1292 Chambésy, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 758 30 44, Email: mission.zimbabwe@ties.itu.net
Please also write to the embassies of Zimbabwe in your respective country.
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Geneva - Paris, October 27, 2005
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Email: observatoire@iprolink.ch
Tel and fax FIDH: 33 1 43 55 55 05 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29