UN RIGHTS EXPERT CONCERNED OVER DEVELOPMENTS IN ZIMBABWE

7 March 2002



The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, expressed grave concern today over the latest developments in Zimbabwe.

According to the Special Rapporteur, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is reported to have defied a Supreme Court order delivered on February 27 striking down electoral legislation on grounds that it was improperly enacted by Parliament. The President reinstated by an executive edict published in the Government Gazette on March 5 the same legislation, asserting that it was validly enacted and "shall be deemed to have been lawfully" adopted.

"This action is a blatant violation of the United Nations Basic Principles of the Independence of the Judiciary, which expressly provide that States should guarantee the independence of the judiciary and that decisions of the courts should not be subject to revision save by lawfully constituted appellate courts", Mr. Cumaraswamy said.

The Special Rapporteur added that he has also learnt that Justice Ebrahim, who presided the Supreme Court which delivered the judgment, has since resigned. Mr. Cumaraswamy recalled that Justice Ebrahim was the last of seven Supreme Court judges to step down since the early retirement, under pressure, of Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay in March 2001.

"These latest developments", the Special Rapporteur continued, "seen in the light of previous attacks, harassment and intimidation of the judiciary by the executive and others, as well as defiance of court orders by the Government, are indicative that Zimbabwe is no longer a government of laws but of men who have no regard whatsoever for the independence of the judiciary and the majesty of the law".

"Defiance of court orders in effect is defiance of the rule of law", he said. "When it is the Government and its agents who defy then governmental lawlessness becomes the order of the day".

The Special Rapporteur will raise these concerns when he presents his reports to the fifty-eighth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 4 April 2002.





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