ZIMBABWEAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS UNDER
INCREASING PRESSURE FROM RESTRICTIVE LEGISLATION
AND GOVERNMENT THREATSTake Action Now!
visit http://capwiz.com/lchr/issues/alert/?alertid=982041&type;=CUNovember 20, 2024
Over the past year the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights has drawn attention to the numerous, serious violations of human rights being committed in Zimbabwe by agents of the ruling Zanu-PF party. Such violations include widespread political violence and acts of torture, arbitrary detention, often in inhumane conditions, the denial of access to food aid to perceived opposition supporters, and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association. Local human rights and civil society organizations that have sought to document and publicize such abuses have themselves come under increasing attack, as have journalists, trade union activists, lawyers, judges and others who have spoken out against the government’s policies. Humanitarian aid workers have also been obstructed and attacked as they try to ensure the distribution of food to an ever-growing starving population.
Legislation pushed through Zimbabwe’s parliament by the ruling party is routinely used to silence political dissent and persecute those considered a threat to Zanu-PF’s grip on power. The provisions of the Public Order and Security Act, passed in January 2002, are exploited by police and government officials to prohibit or disrupt legitimate public meetings and as a basis for the arrest and detention of government critics. In recent weeks, another restrictive piece of legislation - the Private Voluntary Organizations Act (PVOA) - has been added to the arsenal of weapons being used against Zimbabwe’s human rights and civil society community.
The PVOA came into effect in September 1967 and has been amended on several occasions, most recently in 2001. Its provisions require that all “private voluntary organizations” be registered with the government, it being a criminal offence to be involved in the management of an unregistered organization. The decision on whether to grant an application for registration is made by a Board that can be controlled by the government. This Board can refuse such application on broad, vague grounds, or can delay its decision for many months, effectively frustrating an organization’s activities. The Board can also choose to cancel an organization’s registration on broad grounds, or impose conditions upon it. Decisions of the Board can be appealed only to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. The Minister also has the power to interfere in the running of an organization by, among other things, suspending members of its executive committee. This particular power was declared unconstitutional in 1997 by Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court.
Despite its existence on the books for many years, enforcement of the PVOA has been neglected for most of that time, or applied in a selective manner. However, on September 13, 2002, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare published a notice in the press stating that all private voluntary organizations are required to register under the Act and those operating without registration were committing a criminal offence, for which arrests would be made. Around the same time, increasing rumors circulated among the NGO community of a new version of the PVOA that was being drafted by the government and would soon be submitted to Parliament. While the text of this rumored legislation has yet to be released, it is generally considered that it will be even more draconian than the current provisions. Local experts have stated that increased restrictions on, or a total prohibition of the receipt of foreign funding by local groups is likely, along with harsher penalties for breaches of the Act.
The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights is extremely concerned about the enforcement of the current PVOA and about the possibility of its amendment in further violation of the basic right of freedom of association. Under the guise of regulation, the government of Zimbabwe is setting up a system to effectively prevent the independent operation of organizations that it considers supportive of the opposition or threatening to its hold on power. The right to freedom of association, enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as in Article 21 of the Zimbabwean Constitution, includes the right of an association to operate effectively and independently and the terms of the PVOA prevent individuals from forming and running organizations free from state control.
Our fears about how the PVOA might be utilized to further persecute local human rights groups were quickly realized when, on November 13, the government launched a public attack on the Amani Trust, an internationally respected NGO working to support Zimbabwe’s many victims of torture. One of the state-controlled newspapers reported that the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr. July Moyo, singled out Amani as an organization in contravention of the PVOA and that such organizations would be dealt with “strongly.” The same day, the Minister for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, released a list of NGOs characterized by the government as threats to Zimbabwe’s peace and security, including the Amani Trust. The Minister accused these organizations of being funded by the British government, supporting the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, and aiming to destabilize the country.
Such statements from government Ministers appear designed to further intimidate the Amani Trust and other non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe and indicate a total disregard for the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, 1998. This Declaration recognizes the crucial role played by human rights organizations in any country, and requires that the work of such organizations and individual human rights defenders be promoted, and that they be protected from attack. In a country such as Zimbabwe, where political violence carried out by government sponsored militias is prevalent, the singling out of particular organizations and labeling them “criminal” and subversive renders staff and members of such organizations even more vulnerable to physical attack.