Right to life

14 | Right to life

Law Society of Zimbabwe: Model Constitution of Zimbabwe (2010)
  1. Everyone has the right to life.
  2. An Act of Parliament must protect the lives of unborn children, and that Act must provide that pregnancy may be terminated only in accordance with that law.
  3. No law may prescribe death as a competent penalty and no executions may take place in Zimbabwe.
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37 | Right to life

Kariba Draft Constitution
  1. Every human being has the right to life and may not be deprived of it intentionally.
  2. A law may permit the death penalty to be imposed on persons convicted of murder, but–
    1. the penalty may be carried out only in accordance with a final judgment of a competent court;
    2. the penalty must not be imposed on a person for an offence committed when he or she was less than eighteen years old;
    3. the penalty must not be imposed or carried out on a pregnant woman;
    4. the law must permit the court a discretion whether or not to impose the penalty;
    5. the person sentenced must have a right to seek pardon or commutation of the penalty from the President.
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12 | Protection of right to life

Constitution of Zimbabwe (at 13th Feb, 2009)
  1. No person shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been convicted.
  2. A person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of subsection (1) if he dies as the result of the use, to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by law, of such force as is reasonably justifiable in the circumstances of the case—
    1. for the defence of any person from violence or for the defence of property;
    2. in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;
    3. for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny or of dispersing an unlawful gathering; or
    4. in order to prevent the commission by that person of a criminal offence; or if he dies as the result of a lawful act of war.
  3. It shall be sufficient justification for the purposes of subsection (2) in any case to which that subsection applies if it is shown that the force used did not exceed that which might lawfully have been used in the circumstances of that case under the law in force immediately before the appointed day.
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14 | Right to life

National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Draft Constitution (2001)
  1. Everyone has the right to life.
  2. Subject to sub-section 3 of this section, no law may prescribe death as a competent sentence and no executions may take place in Zimbabwe.
  3. Parliament may pass a law that provides for the imposition of the death penalty upon the perpetrators of the most heinous murders.
    1. This law may only be passed after public debate about which types of murder should attract the death penalty.
    2. This law must clearly and precisely define the aggravating circumstances that must be present before the death penalty may be imposed and must lay down procedures to ensure that all persons charged with murder receive fair trials, are legally represented by competent and experienced legal practitioners and the mental competence of the persons charged is fully investigated, and the Human Rights Commission established in terms of this Constitution must certify that the law properly sets out what it is required to contain.
    3. After a period of one year from the commencement of this Constitution, the Human Rights Commission, after consultation with the public, will decide whether the death penalty will continue to be imposable for murder or should be totally abolished and Parliament must act in accordance with the decision taken by the Human Rights Commission.
  4. The law must protect the life of the unborn child and a pregnancy may only be lawfully terminated in accordance with strict provisions to be prescribed in an Act of Parliament.
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