Recommendations to the Commonwealth

At its next meeting, on January 30, 2002, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group will consider whether formally to place Zimbabwe on its agenda-that is to review its compliance with the fundamental standards, principles and values of the organization. Human Rights Watch strongly believes that Zimbabwe should be placed on the CMAG agenda and that the government should be given a series of clearly specified conditions that it must immediately fulfil to be regarded as in compliance with the Commonwealth's Harare Declaration, which commits Commonwealth members to democratic governance, failing which it may face suspension at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. These should include:

· Withdrawal or repeal of legislation in violation of constitutional rights and restrictive of political activity, including Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, recent regulations amending the Land Acquisition Act, amendments to the Electoral Act, and amendments to the Labour Relations Act.
· Prompt review of other existing legislation to establish its consistency with the Constitution.
· Clear public instructions to the police and other law enforcement agencies that perpetrators of public violence should be dealt with, with the full force of the law.
· Prompt disciplinary measures against police and other law enforcement officers who fail to adhere to these instructions.
· Instructions to the police and prosecuting authorities to investigate all serious acts of public violence with a view to bringing prosecutions.

It must be stressed that these are minimum conditions, without which the present climate of lawlessness will continue. The atmosphere of intimidation has been so intense that presidential elections scheduled for March 9-10, 2002 cannot be free and fair. However, the immediate cessation of violence, accompanied by these minimum steps, would begin to reestablish an environment in which political debate can take place freely and the Zimbabwean people will lose the fear of participating in the democratic process.