Press Releases:

September 15, 2008

Zimbabwe: Lasting peace requires justice and truth

NEW YORK/CAPE TOWN - The new power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe is a step forward for the country, but a durable peace will require justice for victims of political violence and accountability for perpetrators, the International Center for Transitional Justice said.

"The new coalition government cannot become a safe haven for those with blood on their hands," said Comfort Ero, deputy director of ICTJ's Africa Program. "Unless the perpetrators of human rights abuses are subject to justice, the new political arrangement will not guarantee human rights or the rule of law."

President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democatic Change (MDC) leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed a power-sharing agreement Monday that will divide government posts between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and two factions of the MDC.

The agreement calls for "consideration" of a mechanism that would advise on measures for "national healing, cohesion and unity in respect of victims of pre and post independence political conflicts." But with no firm commitments to truth-seeking, reparations and accountability, there is a risk that the new government will fail to provide for victims.

"Zimbabweans have suffered terrible violence, economic mismanagement and corruption. Real peace will only come when society addresses that past," said Howard Varney, director of ICTJ's Truth-Seeking program. "This requires a credible, independent truth-seeking process; reparations for victims of human rights abuses; and holding wrongdoers responsible for their actions."

While ICTJ welcomes the agreement's provision to train members of the security services on human rights, the agreement does not require structural reform of the security services-a vital need if they are to be governed by the rule of law rather than their political masters.

ICTJ joins Zimbabwean civil society in asking for the following measures as the minimum requirements for a just transition:

• A truth-seeking process to help Zimbabweans understand the past.
• A judicial process to hold all perpetrators to account and prevent serious human rights violators from being shielded by political deals.
• Independent monitoring of the right to free political activity.
• A reparations program and equitable land reform for the victims of government campaigns that confiscated land and forcibly displaced urban dwellers, as well as for the victims of colonial-era land policies.
• The disbanding of paramilitary groups, including armed youth groups and veterans' groups.
• A vetting process that will bar human rights abusers from the military and security services, as well as other sensitive public posts.
• A guarantee by the new government to ensure that women are equitably represented in strategic cabinet posts.

Finally, ICTJ calls on the United Nations Development Program, which has been chosen to coordinate international aid for Zimbabwe's reconstruction, to insist that the unity government rid itself of known perpetrators of terrible crimes and address other human rights violations as sure indicators of commitment to meaningful reforms.