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Justice ministry to expedite completion of alignment of laws to Constitution

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THE Justice ministry has promised to expedite the completion of alignment of laws to the Constitution.

THE Justice ministry has promised to expedite the completion of alignment of laws to the Constitution.

BY MUNESU NYAKUDYA

Speaking at commemorations to mark International Human Rights Day at the Takashinga Cricket Ground in Highfield yesterday, Secretary for Justice Virginia Mabhiza said of the 396 Acts that were in the statute books upon the adoption of the new Constitution in 2013, an assessment showed that 206 required alignment.

“I am happy to note the progress made on alignment of laws to the Constitution which is being coordinated by the inter-ministerial taskforce on the alignment of legislation to the Constitution set up in 2015,” Mabhiza said.

“Of the 396 Acts that were in our statute books upon the adoption of the Constitution, assessment revealed that 206 required alignment, the alignment of 30 Acts including the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act.”

She also said that of the 30 outstanding Bills required for alignment, 11 were before Parliament.

“I commit my ministry expedite the completion of the alignment of laws to the Constitution and ensuring the procedures for enforcement of recommendations arising from the work of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) on investigations and monitoring are implemented and enforced,” Mabhiza said.

ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi said the commission continued to register a significant increase in human rights violations. “To date since operationalisation in June 2014, the commission has received and dealt with about 1 489 complaints,” Mugwadi said.

“The increase in cases being handled by the commission is attributed to many factors including publicity of the commission’s work in the media, road shows and outreaches in different parts of the country in line with the commission’s mandate to promote awareness and respect for human rights at all levels in society.”

He said the ZHRC has managed to successfully monitor 21 of the 46 prisons in the country.