The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Job Sikhala, Mr. Paul Madzore and Mr. Nelson Chamisa, opposition members of the Parliament of Zimbabwe at the time the complaint was submitted, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/189/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 188th session (April 2011),

Noting the absence of any communication from either the authorities or the sources regarding this case, which concerns the continuing impunity of State officials reportedly responsible for the torture in January 2003 and March 2007 of Mr. Sikhala and Mr. Madzore and their alleged failure to act when, on 18 March 2007, Mr. Chamisa was beaten up at Harare International Airport, the culprits having remained unpunished as well,

Recalling that the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe has repeatedly stated in the past that Parliament is firmly committed to protecting the human rights of its members and to taking action to this end within the limits imposed by the doctrine of the separation of powers,

1. Requests the Secretary General to impress once more upon the authorities the need to act decisively on the long-standing serious concerns expressed in its resolution of April 2011 by taking effective steps to identify and punish the culprits of both the torture and the attack and to follow up on the legal complaints filed by Mr. Sikhala and Mr. Madzore; is particularly anxious to ascertain that the Parliament of Zimbabwe is indeed using, in line with its stated commitment to protecting the rights of its members, its oversight function to ensure that the competent authorities are acting accordingly;

2. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary and competent authorities and to invite them once again to provide the long-awaited details of any action taken in this respect; also requests him to transmit the resolution to the three persons concerned with the request that they furnish any new relevant information in their possession;

3. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 126th IPU Assembly (March/April 2012).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 125th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 718 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

HOME PAGEHUMAN RIGHTSMAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITYIPU STRUCTURE AND DOCUMENTS