Sep 8, 2020 | Advocacy, News
The ICJ, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), today launched a whistleblowing application (tip off) mechanism in Harare.
It is common that people reporting corruption, tipping off and submitting key evidence prefer to stay anonymous, as they may have an often, well-founded, fear of reprisal by the parties involved. In such instances it is imperative for the ZACC to adopt a protective solution that guarantees user anonymity. This tip off mechanism will enable ZACC to receive information and evidence securely while the user of the mechanism remains anonymous. In turn ZACC will be able to use the information received to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption. Additionally, the application will also have a case management dashboard which will aid evaluation of ZACC’s efficiency in handling corruption cases.
Corruption undermines the rule of law by impeding access to justice through diversions of public resources for private gain. As such, the ICJ, through the support by the EU, is working towards increased transparency and integrity in the justice delivery system in order to increase access to justice for all. The whistleblowing application is not undertaken in isolation, as it builds on other initiatives to combat corruption under this programme, which include the Anti-Corruption Campaign, establishment of an anti-corruption court, capacity building, and various research initiatives.
“Corruption remains a key challenge confronting Zimbabwe. If unabated, corruption undermines democracy and the rule of law leading to violations of human rights. Its destructive effect on development disproportionately affects the poor. The participation of the public, in augmenting government efforts in combating corruption is therefore critical. It is our hope that through this awareness programme, ordinary members of the public will be able to recognize corrupt behaviour and feel empowered to take a stand against it. Further, we hope that the mechanism will sustain the momentum against corruption and increase the demand for improved accountability and transparency in various sectors in Zimbabwe thereby contributing to reduction of corruption,” said Blessing Gorejena, ICJ’s Zimbabwe Project Team leader.
Once officially launched, the whistle-blowing mechanism will be available to the public. It will be promoted and encouraged by publicizing stories of successful prosecutions and other actions as a result of information provided by whistle-blowers, as well as reporting on the effective protection of such persons from any form of reprisal or other harm.
The project is facilitated through the support of the European Union.
Contact:
Blessing Gorejena, Senior Legal Adviser and Team Leader of ICJ Zimbabwe Project, t:0772151989, e: blessing.gorejena(a)icj.org
Aug 27, 2020 | Advocacy, News
The ICJ, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), convened a virtual Asset Recovery Training Workshop from 18-26 August. The training was part of the ICJ efforts to advance the rule of law in Zimbabwe.
The training was held with investigators from ZACC. It was led by Dr Prosper Maguchu, a legal expert on human rights and financial crimes.
The objective of the training was to enhance the capacity of ZACC investigators to conduct financial investigations and apply asset tracing techniques in relation to corruption and money laundering cases.
Over the past 50 years, it is estimated that Africa has lost in excess of one trillion US dollars in illicit financial flows (IFFs) with claims that this is roughly equivalent to all of the official development assistance received by the continent during the same timeframe.
Zimbabwe is not immune to this challenge of IFFs.
ZACC chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo remarked that financial crimes and illicit financial flows had become a serious threat the Zimbabwe economy and beyond our borders. She pointed to the prevalence of tax evasion, smuggling, corruption, fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering and noted that ill-gotten proceeds involving money were moving across borders. In such instances it is a daunting task for investigators and asset recovery officers to follow the money trails and recover proceeds of crime. She noted that the virtual asset recovery workshop was an opportune moment time to enhance the capacity of investigators and asset recovery officers.
“This training was very timely and critical. It enhanced the capacity of ZACC in its pursuit to recover assets accumulated though corruption. The investigators were equipped with the requisite skills and techniques involved in asset recovery that include collecting evidence, issuing restraint and freezing orders and making mutual legal assistance requests. Recovering stolen assets is an important process in the fight against corruption as it deters corruption by turning it into a high-risk, low-reward activity. Additionally, asset recovery is a means to obtain resources for the development of the country, which resources can also be channelled towards strengthening the fight against corruption in Zimbabwe, thus contributing to the greater respect for the rule of law,” said ICJ Senior Legal Adviser Blessing Gorejena.
The training workshop provided a comprehensive overview on what asset recovery means, exploring approaches and tools in asset recovery and enhance the technical capacity of the investigators to trace, seize and confiscate and repatriate illicitly acquired assets.
Participants in this workshop included 18 investigative officers and two Commissioners. Overall there were 11 female and 9 male participants in attendance.
This workshop was supported by the European Union Delegation in Zimbabwe.
Contact:
Shaazia Ebrahim (ICJ media officer), c: +277 167 067 19 e: shaazia.ebrahim(a)icj.org
Vimbai Mutandwa (ICJ legal advisor), c: +263 77 351 7733 e: vimbai.mutandwa(a)icj.org
Aug 21, 2020 | News
The order of the Magistrates’ Court of Zimbabwe barring lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa from continuing as defence legal counsel for journalist Hopewell Chin’ono is a violation of Chin’ono’s right to a fair trial and Mtetwa’s right to express her opinions freely, said the ICJ today.
“Hopewell Chin’ono is already facing persecution because of his reporting on alleged corruption and now his lawyer is prevented from defending him properly. The Magistrate Court’s decision violates Zimbabwe’s domestic, international and regional legal obligations regarding freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial,” said ICJ Secretary General Sam Zarifi.
Hopewell Chin’ono, a prominent Zimbabwean journalist, is currently in custody and is facing trial on charges of inciting public violence, related to his reporting on corruption.
He appointed Beatrice Mtetwa, a prominent Zimbabwean human rights lawyer to act as his defence legal counsel.
After Hopewell Chin’ono was denied bail, it is alleged that a Facebook page by the name “Beatrice Mtetwa and The Rule of Law” posted the following statements:
“Where is the outrage from the international community that Hopewell Chin’ono is being held as a political prisoner? His life is in serious peril. Raise awareness about his unlawful imprisonment. Do not let him to be forgotten. You or someone you love could be the next one abducted from your home and put in leg irons.”
On account of these alleged statements and at the instance of an application by the State, the Magistrates’ court barred Beatrice Mtetwa from continuing as defense legal counsel on grounds that she made statements which demonstrates that “she is no longer detached from the case to continue appearing in it” and has lost the “requisite objectivity of an officer of the court”.
The full judgment by the court can be accessed here.
Beatrice Mtetwa denied ownership of or control over the said Facebook page. Filmmaker Lorie Conway is listed as the only administrator of the said Facebook page. Despite this, the Magistrate’s Court ruled that Beatrice Mtetwa is aware of the page, approved its creation and therefore, these statements are attributable to her.
“Regardless of whether or not these statements can be attributed to Beatrice Mtetwa, the International Commission of Jurists is concerned about the chilling effect which the judgment has on the exercise of freedom of expression by lawyers, the accused persons’ right to legal representation and the right to fair trial. The judgment seems to suggest that if a lawyer makes public statements such as those allegedly attributed to Beatrice Mtetwa, the lawyer should be barred from continuing as legal counsel in the matter—and that is contrary to international standards regarding the role of lawyers,” Zarifi said.
This right is underscored in Principle 23 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers which states that:
“Lawyers like other citizens are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly. In particular, they shall have the right to take part in public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of justice and the promotion and protection of human rights…”
The right to legal representation is recognised in section 70(1)(d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. This guarantees an accused person the right to appoint a legal practitioner of their choice to act as their defence attorney. The same right is underscored in article 14(3)(b) of the ICCPR and article 7(1) of the African Charter. The right to legal representation is an integral element of the right to fair trial as elaborately explained under the Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa.
Contact
Shaazia Ebrahim (Media Officer) email: Shaazia.Ebrahim(a)icj.org
Jul 31, 2020 | Advocacy, Open letters
The ICJ and the South African Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN) have written to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, and the Chairperson of African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
They have detailed the continued intimidation and harassment of the residents of Happiness village by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
“We have written to the Special Rapporteurs because the SANDF is unrelenting in its abuse of the resident’s despite the best efforts of their legal representatives and repeated court orders,” said ICJ Legal Adviser in South Africa Tim Fish Hodgson.
“A community leader was placed under house arrest guarded by four soldiers for seven days. Another resident was subjected to a punishment by which was told to lie flat on the ground and ‘pray to his God’ for simply leaving his home. Others have been assaulted. The SANDF deliberately conducts military exercises near the residents’ homes late at night to scare and intimidate them. All this with utter disregard for the law and in direct violation of a number of court judgments and orders”, he added.
The residents, who were forcibly and violently evicted from Marievale military base beginning in 2017, have repeatedly been granted court orders by the High Court declaring such evictions unlawful and directing the SANDF to refrain from harassing, threatening and intimidating the residents and not to restrict their movement.
Despite this, and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, further evictions and constant harassment and intimidation continues unabated and has intensified to a point that the residents describe the SANDF as having “laid siege” to their homes in Happiness Village which is adjacent to Marievale military base.
Soldiers now police checkpoints, preventing visitors from entering the area and even journalists have been prevented from entering Happiness Village. The residents’ legal representatives were only allowed to visit a single community representative under armed military guard.
As the letter reveals, the SANDF’s actions amount to violations of the residents’ right to adequate housing protection in terms of the South African Constitution, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The intimidation, harassment, humiliation and assault of the residents’ amount to violations of the residents’ rights to liberty and security of person and may also amount to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment in violation of the South African Constitution and international human rights law.
They seem to be geared at making the resident’s lives intolerable in order to secure evictions “through the backdoor”, which is explicitly prohibited in South African law.
The residents, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, will once again be in urgent court on July 31 seeking an interdict to prevent further harassment, intimidation and restrictions on their movement by the SANDF. The legal representatives of the SANDF have indicated that they intend to oppose their application.
The ICJ has therefore implored the Special Rapporteurs to:
1. Call on the SANDF, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans and on the Ekurhuleni Municipality to desist from any further evictions, relocation, intimidation, harassment, humiliation, and assault of the Marievale community residents;
2. Call on the SANDF, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans and the Ekurhuleni Municipality to immediately lift and ensure the non-recurrence of restrictions on the movement on Happiness Village residents;
3. Call on the President of South Africa, as the Commander in Chief of the SANDF, to take appropriate action to ensure that the human rights violations that the residents of Marievale have suffered at the hands of the SANDF on a continuous basis since 2017 be investigated, and that appropriate action be taken to ensure access to justice and effective remedies for the residents; and
4. Call on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans to ensure the accountability of the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans for the human rights violations to which the SANDF has subjected the residents on a continuous basis since 2017.
Read the full letter here.
SouthAfrica-SAHRDN-ICJ Letter to SRs on HRDs-Advocacy-open letters-2020-ENG
Contact:
Tim Fish Hodgson (ICJ Legal Adviser) t: +27828719905; e: timothy.hodgson(a)icj.org
Jul 31, 2020 | Agendas, Events, News
The ICJ, together with the Global Initiative on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) and the Right to Education Initiative (RTE), held webinars on 24 and 31 July.
The discussions explored The Guiding Principles on the Human Rights Obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education (Abidjan Principles) and their application in the context of COVID-19.
The webinars focused respectively on public education and private education.
Participants included judges and representatives of civil society organizations from Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Sierra Leone.
“The aim of the conversation in these webinars is to better understand the problems facing civil society and judiciaries in the four countries in ensuring the protection of the right to education in the context of Covid-19 and the increased privatization of education,” said ICJ Commissioner Justice Jamesina King of Sierra Leone.
The Abidjan Principles, based in large measures on existing international law and standards, were developed by leading international experts and adopted in 2019.
They clarify and set out elements of State obligations to uphold the right to education and related standards in both public and private educational settings.
Participants were able to deepen their understanding of the Abidjan Principles as well as the increased pressure placed on education systems across Africa as a result of COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has dramatically exacerbated already well-known issues in the realization of the right to education” and the “divide in quality of access to education between public and private sectors,” added Justice King.
“Private actors in particular… have been reported to have capitalized on the pandemic to extend their business in the education sectors.”
Participants raised concerns about the use of public funds to support private actors in education, an issue which is addressed by the Abidjan Principles.
Ashina Mtsumi from the GI-ESCR, summarized the Abidjan Principles and emphasized that “States’ first priority should be public education, as there is no obligation for states to fund private actors in education.”
A theme emerging from the discussions was the important role of the State in regulating private actors in education in the context of the global pandemic. Judges discussed the role of the judiciaries in their respective countries in ensuring the protection of the right to education.
“Can courts force private institutions to continue [operating] or even reduce school fees as an incidence of the right to education?,” Justice Joel Ngugi of Kenya asked.
Justice Ngugi also highlighted the need for governments to ensure that schools are safe for all learners in the context of COVID-19.
Judge Lydia Mugambe said that while in Uganda the pandemic had seen some private schools continuing with online learning, learners in public schools had had to depend on State provision of learning through newspapers and news stations which had not been sufficient. In the COVID-19 context, States must ensure that they continue to “require private instructional educational institutions to meet the minimum standards set by the State”, as indicated by the Abidjan Principles.
“The real problem is that our infrastructure is bad, the education system is bad and we have had a constitutional right to education since 1994 and I am embarrassed to say that the Covid-19 crisis has not exacerbated the problems, but has exposed the problems and have left no place to hide for years and years of government negligence,” said former Justice of the Constitutional Court in South Africa Zak Yacoob.
Representative from civil society organizations from all four countries emphasized the increasing risks introduced to the right to education as a result of privatization of education in Africa.
Watch the first webinar here.
Contact:
Khanyo Farisè (ICJ Legal Adviser) e: Nokukhanya.Farise(a)icj.org
Tim Fish Hodgson (ICJ Legal Adviser) t: +27828719905; e: timothy.hodgson(a)icj.org
