October 2007 saw a marked increase in the number of human rights violations particularly on groups such as Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and students from higher and tertiary education institutions.
This report documents a total of 254 cases of unlawful arrests and detention with a total of 216 members of WOZA being arrested in Harare and Bulawayo for protesting against state-sponsored violence as well as the shortage of basic goods and commodities on the formal market. Furthermore, 30 NCA members were assaulted for demonstrating against the provisions in Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill No. 18.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum supports the right of people to peacefully demonstrate or hold meetings protesting against certain aspects of governance in the country as long as the demonstrations or meetings do not turn violent, obstruct traffic, become a public nuisance or cause anything that will disturb peace and security in the country.
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