UN rebukes Mugabe for justifying police brutality

UN rebukes Mugabe for justifying police brutality

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By Staff Reporter

THE United Nations has condemned President Robert Mugabe's defence of the police force after Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were tortured in police custody.

Mugabe, during a stop-over in Cairo from the United Nations in New York, said the ZCTU deserved to be beaten up.

“…the police were right in dealing sternly with the ZCTU leaders," Mugabe said.

“Some people are now crying foul that they were assaulted, yes you get a beating.

"When the police say move, move, if you don't move, you invite the police to use force.”

The Zimbabwean leader's support for state violence flies in the face of a Harare magistrate’s order directing the investigation of the incident that saw some unionists being hospitalized.

The trade union leaders were arrested following a botched attempt to lead a nationwide workers' strike. Police rounded up the just over 200 people who turned up for the protest. Many complained they had been severely beaten and tortured.

The police have since promised an investigation into the assaults.

In a statement released Thursday, the United Nations Country Team in Zimbabwe (UNCT) said: “It is with a profound sense of dismay that the UNCT has taken note of recent statements made by the Zimbabwean authorities in regards to the police handling of the recent ZCTU planned demonstration, and which might be interpreted as condoning the use of force and torture to deal with peaceful demonstrations by its citizens.”

Mugabe’s endorsement of the police brutality was a U-turn from statements made on the sidelines of the UN. In an interview with the Associate Press in New York, Mugabe said the incident was as a result of the "overzealousness of one or two police, exaggerating their role”.

The UNCT urged Zimbabwe's uniformed forces to exercise restraint and to allow “Zimbabweans to freely exercise their constitutionally- enshrined freedoms."

The UN also reminded the Zimbabwe government of its obligations as a signatory to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the ILO convention on freedom of association.

“More specifically, the UNCT calls upon the government to respect the universally held principle that the detention of trade unionists in the context of them exercising their right to defend their interests constitutes not only a breach of their civil liberties, but more particularly the fundamental rights of trade unions”.

The Zimbabwe government has not commented on the UN rebuke.
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