7 April 2008
Ndola — THE 2007 Human Rights Commission (HRC) report has observed that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) recorded an increased number of convictions involving corruption cases.
The state of human rights report, released last week, also said that corruption limited an individual's access to free public goods and services and reduced people's freedom of political choice in elections.
The report said in 2007 the ACC recorded 20 convictions as opposed to 10 convictions in 2006, showing a significant improvement.
It said the ACC had established and operationalised integrity committees in eight institutions as a means of internalising corruption prevention and reporting in the public sector.
The ACC also enhanced its internal and external communication systems which resulted in an increase of corruption reported cases and information.
The HRC also observed that international treaties, ratified by Zambia, had not been integrated into national laws and Zambians had limited knowledge of their rights and how to enforce them.
"Creating such awareness is the role of the HRC, but its institutional capacity to enforce international standards is weak. As a consequence the rights of many Zambians are violated on a daily basis," it said.
On the Police Public Complaints Authority (PPCA), the report said there had been a minor success with Legal Resources Foundation recommending that a police officer from Pentagon police post in Lusaka's Chibolya township be removed from the service.
The report also says that major challenges human rights institutions faced included lack of sufficient funds, inadequate staffing, transport, centralisation and slow response from concerned State authorities.
It said despite the challenges, the HRC was still able to receive and investigate cases of human rights violations. The commission received 165 complaints of alleged human rights violations from January to March in 2007 and 367 complaints from April to September.
The most common human rights violations involved social security, maladministration of justice and poor conditions of service.
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