An ILO Commission of Inquiry confirmed in March that Zimbabwe’s government was responsible for serious violations of fundamental rights, in particular the freedom to organise trade unions, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, and protection of trade unionists from discrimination. The Commission found the violations to be both systematic and systemic and highlighted that it “sees a clear pattern of arrests, detentions, violence and torture by the security forces against trade unionists that coincide with Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) nationwide events, indicating that there has been some centralised direction to the security forces to take such action”. It also concluded that “there was another clear pattern of control over ZCTU trade union gatherings, be they internal meetings or public demonstrations, through the application of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA)” and that “detentions and targeted violence have been used to intimidate both leaders and rank and file members of the trade union in a systematic and systemic manner”. The POSA has been used regularly as a pretext for anti-union action by the Mugabe regime.
The COI report made a series of recommendations to the Zimbabwe authorities including an immediate halt to the victimisation of trade unionists, the creation of an effective Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, training on human rights for the security forces, strengthening of the rule of law and legislative changes to comply with international labour laws.