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HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PROJECT |
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Page 1 of 2 To achieve the organisation’s vision and mission, ZLHR has established a Human Rights Defenders Project (HRDP), which encapsulates the provision of emergency legal aid and support services, sensitization and capacity building of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), strategic public interest litigation, documentation and publication.
Human Rights Defenders are individuals or groups collectively working towards the promotion and/or protection of fundamental rights and freedoms as provided in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the International Bill of Rights, and the 1998 United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (commonly known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders).
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PROJECT
Main Goal
The Human Rights Defenders Project was established to assist in the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs) from the effects of directed harassment, intimidation, arrests and victimisation by the state and other non-state functionaries. Our working definition of a human rights defender is:
“any person who actively champions the promotion and protection of any of the constitutionally guaranteed rights and in the process becomes the subject of attack by any organised group including but not exclusively state agents and other functionaries.”
This definition is inclusive of everyone who works towards the realisation of these rights as encapsulated in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and other instruments that Zimbabwe has ratified and to which it has acceded.
Rapid Legal Reaction Programme
This programme entails providing a 24-hour alert service for human rights defenders. Under this programme every human rights defender who is arrested communicates through our structures and one of our members is deployed to his or her legal aid
The project will assist human rights defenders who are:
- arrested, detained or otherwise impeded by State agents in the exercise of their human or constitutional right, or
- have become a target of attack by the State as a result of the exercise of their human or constitutional rights, or
- are attempting to assist others in the exercise of their human or constitutional rights, or
- are innocent bystanders to the above.
Examples of Repressive Legislation Targeting Human Rights Defenders
The current volatile and restrictive environment in Zimbabwe has arisen in substantial part due to repressive legislation which has been enacted, including the infamous Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Miscellaneous Offences Act, Broadcasting Services Act, Labour Relations Amendment Act, Presidential Powers Temporary Measures Act Statutory Instrument 37 of 2004, as well as other relics that have survived the colonial era.
Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
This infamous act repealed the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act (LOMA) that had been promulgated by the colonial regime of Mr Ian Douglas Smith, after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Before Independence the present and current leadership challenged and defied this Act as it undermined fundamental rights as protected by international law. The Act saw many freedom fighters being arbitrarily arrested, detained, exiled and even hanged on allegations of attempting to subvert a constitutionally established state. After Independence the Supreme Court struck down many sections of LOMA as unconstitutional. Zimbabwe had existed in a defacto one party state since the demise of the PF ZAPU in 1987. The formation a strong opposition party in the form of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999 saw the government reacting by enacting laws that restricted the ability of the MDC to spread its wings and sell its ideologies to the masses. In 2002 the Parliament passed POSA, which makes great inroads into the rights of individuals and groups. POSA provides for the notification of the regulating authority of any intentions to hold a meeting that is of a political nature. The Act has stifled popular debate, be it political, academic or civic. The effects of this Act have been central under the Human Rights Defenders Project as many human rights defenders have been arrested, detained and prosecuted under its provisions.
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
This Act was aimed mainly at the media fraternity and has been used effectively to silence the independent media such as the now defunct, privately-owned Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday. Journalists have experienced difficulties in having their accreditation processed in terms of the requirements of the Act. AIPPA has severely restricted the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The Act has provisions that empower the Minister of Information to appoint a commission that will be responsible for the registration of all media houses and journalists. The commission was deemed to have been improperly constituted by the Administrative Court of Zimbabwe, and to have acted with an element of bias in the handling of the challenged registration of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (the publishers of the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday. A number of journalists from the independent media have been arrested and charged under AIPPA for offences such as the publication of falsehoods, and failure to register or accredit under the politicised and non professional body of the Media and Information Commission.
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