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International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims 24 March 2012

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum joins the world in marking graves and the exhumation of remains of an estimated 5 000 people the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross from disused mines in the Mount Darwin area sparked national Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims. interest as questions arose as to who was responsible for the deaths, and in what period of history the mass killings occurred. In September On this day in 1980, Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero was shot dead 2011, children playing football at St. Paul Secondary School in Lupane while celebrating Mass in a chapel in El Salvador. The intent was to discovered a mass grave containing up to 60 remains of a massacre. It silence an ardent opponent of repression. Archbishop Romero was is assumed that the remains belonged to victims of the 1980s killed for his outspoken condemnation of the violations that were Gukurahundi atrocities in which the Fifth Brigade in the Midlands and being committed against the most vulnerable populations in his Matabeleland provinces allegedly killed an estimated 20,000 civilians. country. On 21 December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 March, the International Day for the Right to the Truth To date, the Dumbutshena Report (compiled by a commission of Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of inquiry into the disturbances at Entumbane and other demobilization Victims. camps in 1981) and the Chihambakwe Report (findings of the committee that investigated the Gukurahundi Massacres) have not The right to the truth implies knowing the full and complete truth as to been released. the events that transpired, their specific circumstances, and who participated in them, including knowing the circumstances in which Since 1998, the Forum has been working, through litigation, research the violations took place, as well as the reasons for them. The Office of and documentation, to assist victims of human rights violations in the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in its 2009 accessing justice, seeking truth and compensation for their losses and report concluded that the right to the truth about gross human rights suffering. In this work, the Forum notes with regret that the greatest violations and serious violations of human rights is an inalienable and obstacle to remedies for victims remains the state. Laws such as the autonomous right, linked to the duty and obligation of the State to State Liabilities Act (8:14) and the Official Secrets Act (11:09) continue protect its citizens and guarantee human rights, to conduct effective to protect the state from responding to the just needs and demands of investigations and to guarantee effective remedy and reparations. justice for the victims seeking compensation in situations where the state is accountable. Victims of gross violations of human rights and their families have an inalienable right to know the truth about past events concerning the The Forum notes that there is need for serious reform in key perpetration of heinous crimes against them. They have the right to institutions like the judiciary, the police, and the Office of the know about the circumstances and reasons that led, through massive Attorney-General to ensure that victims of gross human rights or systematic violations, to the perpetration of those crimes. They violations have access to remedies which in many cases includes the have the right to know who the perpetrators are, and the fate and right to know. The Forum notes the importance of the Parliament as whereabouts of the disappeared. the law-making organ of the government and calls upon legislators to uphold their constitutional mandate to make laws for the 'peace, While Zimbabwean law does not explicitly provide for the right to the order and good government of Zimbabwe.' truth, our bill of rights, though weak, has sufficient basis for this right. Our constitution protects the right to life, family life, human dignity, The Forum calls upon the Government of National Unity to take equality, the rule of law, free expression and access to information. practical steps towards the implementation of a comprehensive The right to seek and impart information is a solid legal basis of the transitional justice mechanism, including an honest participative truth right to the truth. The right to access justice and equal protection of recovery process that will allow victims of human rights violations to the law constitutes another domestic means of ensuring the right to tell their story; discover the truth about the violations done against the truth. them; full disclosure of the whereabouts of the disappeared; prosecution of offenders, compensation and rehabilitation for However, the reality of conflict in Zimbabwe and the commitments victims; and measures to guarantee non-repetition of such violations. laid out in the Global Political Agreement demand that Zimbabwe These measures, pursued with sufficient commitment and takes more concrete measures to enable individuals and different participation of all stakeholders, are imperative for the realization and peoples to claim the right to the truth. The preamble to the Global enjoyment of the right to the truth by individuals, families and the Political Agreement, signed by Zimbabwe's three main political parties society as a whole. on 15 September 2008, speaks to the “determination to build a society free of violence, fear, intimidation, hatred, patronage, corruption and On the occasion of the International Day for the Right to the Truth founded on justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of equality”. Victims, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum pays tribute to the individuals and organisations that continue, despite the great risk, to Throughout our post-independence history, events such as the ensure that the truth is told about human rights violations in their Gukurahundi massacres, Operation Murambatsvina, and the 2008 respective countries, and to honouring the memory of victims of gross Elections left thousands of victims yearning to know the truth of what and systematic human rights violations, whilst promoting the really happened and why. In March 2011, the discovery of 19 mass importance of the right to truth and justice. Forum members Amnesty International (Zimbabwe) Transparency International (Zimbabwe) S

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe Women of Zimbabwe Arise R Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender E Justice for Children Trust Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights B M

Legal Resources Foundation Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust E M

Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe Human Rights Association

Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights M

Nonviolent Action and Strategies for Social Change Zimbabwe Peace Project U Research and Advocacy Unit Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association R O

Students Solidarity Trust F