Part A: General introduction 1. Introduction 1.1. The Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) is pleased to present its Combined 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Report (Hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). The Report details the progress made in the promotion and protection of human rights for the people of Zimbabwe from 2007 to date. Information is provided under each article with regards to the constitutional, legislative and administrative measures undertaken by the GoZ to implement its duties and obligations arising from the ACHPR. In addition, information is provided on any challenges being faced by the GoZ in the implementation of such duties and obligations. 1.2. Where necessary, the Report provides responses to the recommendations made by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Hereinafter referred to as the “Commission”) in its concluding observations on Zimbabwe’s 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Reports submitted in 2006. It must be noted that most of the concerns raised by the Commission have been addressed by the coming into force of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20 ) Act of 2013 (Hereinafter “the Constitution”.) 1.3. The Constitution embraces a clearly defined value sys1tem and thus this Constitution mirrors the soul of the nation. It further contains Directive Principles of the State which are indeed the nation’s goals and aspirations.2 Of equal importance is the entrenchment of a very broad and comprehensive, fundamental human rights framework which incorporates not only civil and political rights; socio-economic and cultural rights but also environmental rights3. These rights apply both vertically and horizontally4. This is a significant departure from the 1979 1 Section 3 of the Constitution 2 See generally Chapter 2 of the Constitution 3 4 Recommendation 29 c of Concluding Observations See section 45 of the Constitution Page | 1