Zimbabwe lawyers: staying out of jail, keeping clients alive

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has received the prestigious American Bar Association 2009 Rule of Law Award, the first African group to receive the honor.

Lawyers in Zimbabwe “don’t worry much about such things as recessions, competing for business or the future of the billable hour,” the ABA notes. “Their focus is more likely on staying out of jail while keeping their clients alive.”

Accepting the award, the group lamented the failure of the country’s power-sharing agreement to deliver real change, noting that some 6 months after the pact was negotiated:

• no repressive laws have been repealed or even amended, and they continue to be used selectively to stifle the work of human rights defenders and legitimate political activists;
• these human rights defenders continue to be arrested, detained and persecuted merely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association, or where it is felt that their criticism of state policies and their calls for reform are unpalatable;
• the Zimbabwe Republic Police continues to be abused for the purposes of power retention;
• the office of the Attorney General continues to be manned by an avowed supporter of ZANU-PF and a small group of law officers whose legal ethics and professionalism are subject to scrutiny and who continue to show unwillingness to work in a reformed office which subscribes to accountability, transparency professionalism and justice for all, without fear or favour;
• whilst many magistrates throughout the country have put their lives and safety on the line and delivered professional and considered judgments, a few continue to abuse their office to persecute human rights defenders – the most recent example being the persecution of Members of Parliament belonging to the Movement for Democratic Change to ensure convictions on spurious charges, in efforts to reverse the MDC majority in Parliament.

The lawyers’ group, a partner of the National Endowment for Democracy, this week demanded the release of detained student democracy activists.