THE Zimbabwe Peace Project says the country’s human rights environment remains under pressure after recording 145 violations affecting 3,675 people in April, with activists affiliated to Zanu PF accounting for over half of perpetrators.
These violations excluded abuses recorded during the four days of Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 public hearings, which ended on April 2, as those incidents were already captured in the organisation’s March report where 121 human rights violations affecting 1 985 people were recorded.
In its Monthly Monitoring Report for April, the human rights watchdog said citizens were subjected to intimidation, assaults, abductions, unlawful detention, unjustified arrests and other forms of inhuman treatment.
“The violations documented in April affected 3675 victims, 1887 females which included 8 females with disabilities, 1788 males, where 6 of them were males with disabilities.
“Cases of restricted freedoms of assembly, association, and expression were also recorded, alongside politically motivated discrimination in access to government support, social services, and administrative justice,” the report reads.
ZPP said individuals linked to Zanu PF accounted for the largest share of perpetrators at 53.72%.
“Perpetrators affiliated with ZANU PF constituted the largest share of identified perpetrators of human rights violations in April, accounting for 53.72% of all recorded perpetrators.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) represented 13.50% of perpetrators, followed by suspected state security agents at 6.89%,” the report added.
Traditional leaders constituted 6.61% of perpetrators, local councils 5.79%, other government officials 5.23%, members of the Zimbabwe National Army 2.75%, school authorities 3.03% and religious leaders 0.28%.
The watchdog said the data showed political actors, state security institutions and government-linked structures were responsible for the majority of violations recorded during the reporting period.
Among the most serious abuses recorded for the period were abduction and unlawful detention.
Six MDC members were allegedly abducted from their homes by armed suspected state security agents ahead of a planned demonstration before later resurfacing in Zimbabwe Republic Police custody, where they were allegedly assaulted and charged with inciting violence.
Defend the Constitution Platform youth leader Emmanuel Sitima was allegedly abducted and assaulted by unidentified people in Mabvuku before resurfacing at Harare Central Police Station, where he was charged with malicious damage to property and repeatedly denied bail.
