Zambia needs to eliminate torture and degrading treatment

The Human Rights Commission (HRC),says Zambia needs to put measures in place to eliminate torture and degrading treatment in the country.

HRC acting Chairperson, Arnold Kapelembi, says there is need to criminalise torture in Zambia because currently there is no law that directly deters and punishes perpetrators apart from prosecutions of minor offences like assault.

Mr Kapalembi, therefore, says the definition of torture needs to be expanded to capture all forms of torture, inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment or punishment, among them Gender Based Violence (GBV), systematic beatings and being confined to a mental institution on anything other than medical grounds.

The Acting Human Rights Commission Chairperson was speaking in Lusaka today at a media breakfast to mark Zambia’s first commemoration of the United Nations Day in Support of torture victims.

The day which came into force in 1987 was being commemorated under the theme “Right to Rehabilitation.”

Mr Kapelembi reiterated that efforts to combat torture need to be strengthened through protection of whistle blowers, wider stakeholder sensitisation and training of law enforcement officers in modern investigative methods.

He said the latter will ensure that officers do not rely on torture to obtain confessions and evidence.

He affirmed that the commission has thus committed about 80 per cent of its 2013 sensitisation activities towards torture awareness.

Mr Kapelembi has since called on government to establish a rehabilitation centre for torture victims to avail them an opportunity to be rehabilitated and able to enjoy life as they had done before the torture.

And the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Kanni Wignaraja, said Zambia has taken positive steps to redress human rights violations and offer support to survivors of torture and dehumanising treatment.

Ms Wignaraja cited setting up of the Police Public Complaints Authority, the Victim Support Unit, the enactment of the Anti-Gender Based Violence Act and the fight against early marriages as positive mechanisms for the country.

She pledged the United Nation’s support towards Zambia stating that norms and traditions that reinforce torture need not be reduced but eliminated through social campaigns and implementation of laws.

She affirmed that the country’s legal frameworks, particularly the draft constitution, must be consistent and conform to universal definition of torture.

Ms Wgnaraja called on the media to diverse their reporting on torture, saying the media must not only concentrate on torture by law enforcement officers but also look at societal forms of torture.

And speaking in a question-and-answer session, Human Rights Commission Director, Florence Chibwesha, said a lot needs to be done to ensure that torture suspects are not denied their rights of being innocent until proven guilty.

Ms Chibwesha disclosed that in a recent survey of prisons in Zambia the commission ascertained that 70 per cent of inmates were remandees while only 30 per cent were actual convicts.

She said for this reason the commission will still regard suspects as human beings unless found or stated otherwise.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police, Stella Libongani, assured that police will strike a balance between fighting criminality and respecting human rights.

Ms Libongani expressed confidence that police officers will adhere to international treaties, especially those on human rights, because a lot of awareness is being done to ensure they operate professionally.