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Zambia Human Rights Report 2002
Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development (Afronet)
May 04, 2003

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Introduction
Human rights as enshrined in a country's laws and international instruments should be understood to be a socio-political contract between the citizenry and the State. The underlying assumption of this contract is that the citizenry in a democratic dispensation allows the State to exercise authority over them, so that the citizenry can redeem certain guarantees, with such guarantees being the State undertaking to, for example, provide security of life and sustainable livelihoods, allow for the exercise of the right to political choice, freedom of expression and so on.

International human rights protection instruments are usually categorised into two main groups - civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights. Civil and political rights obligate the State not to do something against its citizenry, like not to kill, not to impinge on free speech and assembly, or not to torture. Economic, social and cultural and cultural rights, on the other hand, obligate the State to do something for its citizenry, like to provide clean water or acceptable standards of health and or medical care. Some civil and political rights, however, do also obligate the State to do something for its citizenry. For example, the right to a fair trial or due process of the law.

Zambia's legal system is dualistic. This means that the obligations under international human rights protection instruments will only be locally effective if they are incorporated in domestic law. Despite this, the government of Zambia still has an obligation to ensure rights are protected. Unfortunately for the Zambian citizen, Zambia lacks a culture of enacting the requisite enabling statutes to transform them into domestic law, despite ratifying some of the most significant instruments (Appendix I).

The Afronet Zambia Human Rights Report provides the realities of human rights promotion, protection and enforcement, as monitored and verified in the year 2002. With specific reference to legal instruments that will enable the avid reader to make an informed follow up, where such information impinges on their own circumstances.

The report does not portend to cover all negations, but simply provides a synopsis of the events as monitored within the institutions means, as a means of interrogating the socio-political contract between the citizenry and the State.

Part one of the report covers civil and political rights constituting an expose on the rule of law, justice and the judiciary; freedom of expression and the media; freedom of assembly and association; the right to political choice; and, the police, torture and the victims.

Part two, deals with economic, social and cultural rights with particular attention to food, poverty and the State; the right to education; the State and health.

Part three, deals with women and the State, with emphasis on issues related to the security of women.

Part four, State institutions and human rights protection, provides an overview of the performance of the Anti Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission.

The last part (reproduced below) is the summary of conclusions.

Part one - civil and political rights
Chapter one (The Rule of Law, Justice and the Judiciary), showed that access to Justice for the majority continued to be constrained, there was State interference with the prosecution and witnesses, and that the questioned 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections proved to be a monumental task for the judiciary.

Chapter two (Freedom of Expression and the Media), showed that the continued use of colonial defamation and criminal libel clauses in the laws of Zambia undermined the pursuits of the media to freely receive and communicate information and ideas.

Chapter three (Freedom of Assembly and Association), showed that the misapplication of the Public Order Act is the biggest constraint to the exercise of freedom of assembly. The provision in the Act that persons wishing to assemble provide notice, and that the Police should within five (5) days provide reasons as to why the gathering should not go ahead, was misinterpreted to mean that persons wishing to assemble should seek permission from the State.

Chapter four (Right to Political Choice), mostly showed that the integrity of the 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections needed to be questioned, as most election petitions in the year under review were characterised by revelations of anomalies in the conduct and administration of the elections.

Chapter five (The Police, Torture and the Victims) showed that the police often abrogated their responsibility of being the protectors of life and property and the preservers of law and order. The police subjected citizens to unlawful detentions, extrajudicial killings and torture.

Part two - economic, social and cultural rights
Chapter Six (Food, Poverty, and the State) showed that the State's endeavour to provide sustainable livelihoods in the face of hunger was characterised by ill-planning, and political denial of the realities of hunger in Zambia.

Chapter seven (Getting Educated), showed that where the State to strive to meet its endeavour in providing education, apart from the declaration that primary education would be free, there is need to increase assess and availability of education institutions, provide adequate of staff levels and financing.

Chapter eight (Health and the State), showed that HIV/AIDS and reproductive health are still a major constraint to attaining the highest attainable standards of health for the citizenry.

Part three - women and the State
Showed that if women are to enjoy most rights provided for in international human rights instruments there is need for the State to domesticate the international instruments and implement the national gender policy.

Part four - State Institutions and human rights protection
Showed that the reviewed institutions, that is the ACC and DEC had appreciable levels of performance, with the increased financing levels to the ACC being to some extent a measure of commitment of the State to control of corruption.

For information on the Report contact Afronet - Research and Fact Finding
e-mail: research@afronet.org.zm

website: http://afronet.org.za

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