Statement on the Increasing Arrests of Student Activists in Zimbabwe

 

National Association of Youth Organizations Statement on increasing arrests of student activists in Zimbabwe for exercise of freedoms to Assembly and Association, HARARE, Zimbabwe, 14 September 2020

 The National Association of Youth Organizations (NAYO) is a Youth Umbrella Body for youth organizations working in Zimbabwe. Its vision is to see a repositioned, redefined and enhanced role of youth in community and national, regional and international developmental processes;

 Guided by Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which provide for freedoms to peaceful assembly and of association which provide for these rights in International law and sections 58 (every person has the right to freedom of assembly and association) and 59 (every person has the right to demonstrate peacefully) of the Zimbabwean Constitution;

 Perturbed by the shrinking civic space in Zimbabwe under the guise of measures to control the spread of COVID-19 through the use of legislation to suppress the legitimate exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly and association; criminalization, indiscriminate and excessive use of force to counter or repress peaceful protest with over 30 activists under ZINASU arrested for inciting violence and stigmatization of and attacks against civil society actors and imposition of restrictions targeting particular groups;

 Noting with concern the arrest of the ZINASU president for leading a protest by ZINASU demanding answers from Impala on the role the company played in the abduction of Tawanda Muchehiwa a student with the Midlands State University (MSU) and the arrest of ZINASU students protesting at the Harare Magistrates Court demanding the release of the ZINASU President and several other arrests recorded this year;   

 We thus call upon and implore the Government of Zimbabwe and all relevant institutions and agencies of Government to:

· The Government of Zimbabwe to respect and uphold the rights of students and other non-state actors exercising freedoms to association and assembly – the continued criminalization of these rights goes against the dictates of the Constitution and set international human rights laws;

· The Government of Zimbabwe to release from incarceration jailed student activists and for related Courts in Zimbabwe to expedite cases relating to the exercise of freedoms to association and assembly – delays in justice act as deterrents to exercise of civil and political rights by all;

· The Government of Zimbabwe to uphold the Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation of Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – the indefinite extension of the National Lock-down to curb the spread of Covid-19 goes against the dictates of the principles as it calls on States to provide ‘effective date of the imposition of the State of Emergency and the period for which it has been proclaimed’ among other measures; and

· The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission to undertake a National Inquiry into violations relating to the exercise of freedoms to assembly and association since the onset of the National Lock-down to curb covid-19 to guide institutional reform and practice of State Institutions implementing measures in response to a National Disaster.

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