THE National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) has urged government to address past human rights violations including Gukurahundi to ensure harmony among communities.
This came out during a NTJWG essay writing competition award ceremony held in Harare early this week.
The competition was aimed at encouraging students to take an active interest and role in peace-building initiatives.
NTJWG director, Paul Nyathi, said the overwhelming response to the essay writing competition reflected the desire by youths to participate in conflict resolution and peace-building programmes.
“During the inaugural peace writing competition in September 2022, youths indicated that they are interested in creating sustainable peace,” Nyathi said.
“Unless young people begin to understand what it means to deal with the past, we will not be able to make much progress.
“This alliance with the NTJWG strives to be inclusive and contributes to building a movement for transitional justice in Zimbabwe that includes the voices of key stakeholders, in this case, young people who are the majority.
“We come from a terrible past...we need to go back and say never again in our country will those injustices play themselves out.”
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Zimbabwe is yet to resolve the Gukurahundi atrocities which resulted in the killing of around 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.
Thousands of victims of the 2008 political violence remain traumatised as perpetrators have not yet been brought to book.
The NTJWG launched a documentary where victims of State-sponsored violence, including Gukurahundi survivors, recounted their harrowing experiences at the hands of State security agents.
In a related matter, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said there was need to operationalise the Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Act to bring perpetrators of violence to book.
“Sympathisers, supporters of opposition political parties, and activists with contrary views on the governance methods of government continue to be targets of torture,” the rights group said in a statement to commemorate the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police, Central Intelligence Organisation, and the Zimbabwe National Army are allegedly known for deploying torture in their methods of investigation, punishment, or coercion. Considering the great strides made in the human rights discourse over the years, this is a serious cause for concern. Zimbabwe should not provide a safe abode for perpetrators of torture.”
