ZIMBABWE

AT A GLANCE
Official Name: Republic of Zimbabwe
Chief of State: Executive President Robert Gabriel Mugabe
Next election: 2013
Capital: Harare
Population: 12.26 million (UN, 2009)
Independence: 1980 from the UK
Human Development Index: 169 of 169 countries (UN, 2010)
Gender Gap Index: 92 of 134 countries (World Economic Forum, 2010)
Gross National Income per capita: US$360 (World Bank, 2009)

A constitution-making process underway in Zimbabwe

Status: Operational
Local Organizations: Law Society of Zimbabwe and other civil society organizations
Canadian Expert: Geoff Plant

Zimbabwe has been engaged in a process of constitution-making intended to replace its Lancaster House constitution, created in 1980 and subsequently both much amended and much criticized. This process is overseen by a Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) established in April 2009. It is composed of 25 members of parliament and has three chairpersons representing each of the parties. The process to date has included an outreach phase in which teams were deployed across the country to conduct over 1200 meetings with the population to solicit their views on the constitution.

Mr. Geoff Plant, Q.C., a former Attorney General of British Columbia, conducted a mission to Harare, Zimbabwe, April 11- 15, 2011 under the Deployment for Democratic Development mechanism (DDD). Under this initiative, he will work with and assist key civil society organizations
(CSOs) as they seek to capture in the draft constitution both the will of the Zimbabwean people and fundamental democratic principles, institutions and values, and thereby increase democratic space for Zimbabwean women, men and youth (female and male) to contribute to shaping their nation’s destiny.