The two girls
A clothes Shop known as Jet Stores in Lusaka, Zambia, bathed two ladies in paint after they were caught stealing clothes.
However Jet stores has come under intense condemnation from
stakeholders after workers poured yellow paint on two young ladies for
allegedly stealing from the store which happened in November 2015.
The Human Rights Commission in a statement issued to the media by
its Chief of Information, Education and Training Mweelwa Muleya said it
strongly condemns acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment or punishment of two females.
Muleya said the Commission become aware of the incident yesterday
after the pictures of the two ladies went viral on social media and that
independent investigations have confirmed the incident.
“The Commission became aware of this form of human rights
violation yesterday, 21st March 2016, through Social Media Platforms and
immediately instituted independent investigations, which established as
a fact that two named ladies of Mtendere Townships in Lusaka, aged 19
and 21 years old respectively, were indeed subjected to acts of torture
and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment by Jet
Stores Officials on 23rd November 2015 around 18:00 hours.
“The Commission has since interviewed the Stores Manager at Jet
Stores, PHI, who has admitted painting the ladies with water paint,
claiming that the victims consented to that kind of ill-treatment as
opposed to being either fined or taken to police. The Commission has
also interviewed both victims who reported that they were physically and
emotionally abused by beating them with electrical cables from 16:00
hours to 18:00 hours to an extent of one of them becoming unconscious
while the other one bled from the ears. The victims also claimed verbal,
sexual and physical harassment during the ordeal that took place in a
room where they were later forced to lay down and subjected to being
painted with yellow water paint all over the body,” Muleya said.
“The Commission wishes to remind and warn both State and
Non-State Actors that acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment or punishment are absolutely prohibited by Article
15 of the Zambian Constitution.
"This prohibition is couched in absolute terms and no consent
of the victim can waive this right to freedom from being tortured, which
is aimed at protecting the inherent dignity and worth of a human being.
“It is also a breach of various Regional and International
Human Rights Instruments such as the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Right and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which Zambia
ratified in 1998. There is no crime that justifies Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Suspects should
always be reported to police who should in turn take such suspects to
court, without resorting to torturing suspects under whatever
circumstances.
“The Commission will summon both Jet Stores Management and the
two victims for further investigations and action. The Commission is
extremely concerned with increasing cases of such human rights
violations. As a long term measure, the Commission is implementing
Business and Human Rights projects and is also working towards
facilitating the enactment of a national law criminalising torture to
operationalise the Constitution and various Regional and International
Human Rights Instruments,” the statement further reads.
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