The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) says it has recorded 1 290 human rights violations since January this year.
Speaking during commemorations of International Day of Human Rights recently, ZHRC deputy secretary for programmes Vengesai Erick Mukutiri said complaints received included violation of political rights and discrimination in the distribution of farming inputs. NewsDay quoted Mukutiri as saying:
Just for this year from January to date, we received so many cases and we have grouped them into two.
We have received 808 cases of human rights abuses and then for administrative justice, it’s 432. So these are receiving attention at different levels of investigation.
The first stage is to assess whether we have a mandate or the best institution to address the issue.
During this election year, political rights issues dominated from the issues that we were dealing with, including court cases, and issues to do with agricultural inputs.
So, the commission managed to deal with these issues made make sure that we hold the public officials accountable.
Most of the cases were recorded in Mashonaland West, Manicaland, and Matabeleland provinces, according to Mukutiri.
ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi said elections in Zimbabwe are characterised by politically motivated violence, saying there is a need to inculcate a culture of respect for human rights in communities. He said:
Much remains to be done to improve the human rights situation in the country and to ensure that a culture of human rights becomes ingrained in our society.
In particular, the commission notes that the polarisation and intolerance of divergent political views persist in our country, characterised by incidents of violence as the country is holding by-elections a few months after harmonised elections.
Mugwadi urged responsible authorities to respect and act on ZHRC recommendations.
He also said it was imperative to align some laws impacting human rights such as the Zimbabwe Human Rights Act to the Constitution.
More: Pindula News