A joint appeal to African leaders to address the human rights situation in Zimbabwe

16 November 2005
Through the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) African Heads of State and Government have made a commitment to human rights and accountability in Africa. We are calling on African leaders to honour these commitments and end their long silence on human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
Today in Zimbabwe, hundreds of thousands of people are internally displaced and destitute, not because of a war, an earthquake or a tsunami, but because their own government has forcibly evicted them, demolished their homes, and destroyed their property and their livelihoods. These acts, totally unjustifiable under international law, have been widely condemned. However, African States have remained conspicuously silent and have not demonstrated the political will to respond to the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan, has described Zimbabwe’s mass evictions as “a catastrophic injustice...carried out with disquieting indifference to human suffering”.
UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues, Anna Tibaijuka, has reported that the government’s Operation Murambatsvina directly affected 700,000 people, indirectly affected at least a further 2 million people and “has precipitated a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions.”
Human rights are being further violated in the context of the humanitarian crisis. There is considerable evidence that the Government of Zimbabwe is unable or unwilling to ensure that those affected have access, at the very least, to minimum essential levels of food, water, shelter and medical care. It is denying victims the humanitarian help they so desperately need:

• Thousands of people, including children, the ill and the elderly, are facing the rainy season with little or no shelter. The government is not providing basic shelter for those in need, and it is blocking the UN and churches from doing so; police have forced destitute people from churches at night.
  
  
• More than four million people need food aid, but the government is limiting food aid distribution, having also blocked a UN appeal for humanitarian aid and forced tens of thousands to return to rural areas where food security is already low.
  
  
• Tens of thousands need clean water and sanitation, but the government is restricting the work of aid agencies that are trying to assist.
  
  
• Despite the already grave humanitarian and internal displacement crisis the government has continued to evict people; some families have been forcibly evicted and moved several times in the past few months.

Zimbabwe’s consistent failure to respect human rights has been well documented, including in reports published in 2005 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues. In the face of such clear, well-documented and large-scale violations, member States of the AU and UN have a duty to ensure that the recommendations of such regional and international problem-solving mechanisms are implemented in order to address the present deprivation of African citizens and deter such harmful practices in the future.
The silence of African States in the face of the grave suffering caused by forced evictions, in Zimbabwe and elsewhere on the continent, has created the regrettable impression of tacit approval of forced evictions as a policy option.
Today, we call on African States, individually and in their capacity as members of the AU, to:

• Publicly express concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe, including the human rights violations that have been a direct consequence of Operation Murambatsvina;
  
• Publicly encourage and offer support to the Government of Zimbabwe to implement the recommendations contained in the reports of the ACHPR and the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues, as a matter of urgency;
  
  
• Place the human rights and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe on the agenda of the AU January 2006 Assembly of Heads of State and Government;
  
  
• Condemn the refusal of the Government of Zimbabwe to cooperate with the Special Envoy of the African Union Commission when he visited Zimbabwe in July 2005 and insist that he be allowed to return to Zimbabwe, fulfil his mandate and report to the AU on the situation of internally displaced people in Zimbabwe;
  
  
• Call for the immediate lifting of all unnecessary restrictions on the provision of humanitarian assistance, including restrictions on the provision of temporary shelter.
  
  
• Call for the provision of effective remedies for the victims of the mass evictions and demolitions and all other human rights violations, including access to justice, reparations, guarantees of non-repetition, compensation and restitution where possible;
  
  
• Call for an end to impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations in Zimbabwe and for those responsible to be brought to justice;
  
• Pledge to seek alternatives to forced eviction in their own jurisdiction.

We also call on African States as members of the UN to:

• Give full support to the UN initiatives aimed at addressing the human rights and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe and to put pressure on the government to allow independent human rights monitoring in Zimbabwe, including UN Special Rapporteurs.
  
  
• In particular, we call on African members of the UN Security Council (Algeria, Benin and Tanzania) and those States that will become members in January 2006 (Ghana and Republic of the Congo) to allow the Security Council to be regularly informed on the situation in Zimbabwe, including the situation in respect of the UN’s humanitarian access to displaced and vulnerable people.

Supporting organizations:

• ANGOLA
  Associacao Justica, Paze Democracia (AJPD)
  
  
• BOTSWANA
  Amnesty International - Botswana
  Ditshwanelo (The Botswana Centre for Human Rights)
  Women in Law in Southern Africa - Botswana
  
  
• DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
  Association Africaine de défense des Droits de l’Homme (ASADHO)
  Collectif des Jeunes du Sud-Kivu (COJESKI)
  Comité Droits de l’Homme Maintenant
  Fondation Bill Clinton
  La Voix des Sans Voix
  Ligue des Electeurs
  Mouvement des jeunes et Etudiants pour la Patrie
  Observatoire Congolais des Droits de l’Homme (OCDH)
  Réseau Provincial de Défense des Droits Humains-Kin (REPRODHOC)
  SADC-Youth Movement
  Toges Noires
  
  
• EGYPT
  Afro- Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO)
  The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights
  
  
• ETHIOPIA
  Initiative Africa (IA)
  
  
• ERITREA
  Human Rights Concern
  
  
• GHANA
  African Women Lawyers Association
  Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (Africa)
  Media Foundation for West Africa
  People's Dialogue for Human Settlements
  The Arc Foundation
  
  
• KENYA
  Amnesty International - Kenya
  Association of Media Women in Kenya
  Basic Rights
  Citizens Coalition for Constitutional Change
  Hakijimii Trust
  Independent Medical Legal Unit
  FIDA Kenya
  Kenya Medical Association Human Rights Committee
  Kisumu Urban Apostolate Programmes - Pandipieri
  Men to Men
  Men for Gender Equality
  OIKEDOME
  People Against Torture
  Release Political Prisoners Group
  Social Reform Centre
  Umande Trust
  Young Women Leadership Institute
  
  
• LESOTHO
  Federation of Women Lawyers
  Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA)
  Lesotho Closthing and Allied Workers Union
  Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations
  Lesotho Durham Link
  Lesotho Society for mentally Handicapped Persons
  Lesotho Youth Federation
  Media Institute of Southern Africa - Lesotho
  NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Children
  Women in Law in Southern Africa - Lesotho
  Young Women Christian Association
  
  
• LIBERIA
  Amnesty International - Liberia
  
  
• MALAWI
  Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR)
  Civil Liberties Committee
  Institute of Policy Interaction (IPI)
  National Media Institute of Southern Africa (NAMISA)
  Women in Law in Southern Africa - Malawi
  
  
• MOZAMBIQUE
  Women in Law in Southern Africa - Mozambique
  
  
• NAMIBIA
  Association for Children with Language, Speech & Hearing Impairments (ClaSH) of Namibia
  Big Issue Namibia
  Clement Daniels Legal Practitioners
  Katutura Community Radio 106.2 FM
  Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia
  Namibia Development Trust
  Namibia NGO Forum
  !Nara Training Centre
  National Society for Human Rights (NSHR)
  People's Education, Assistance and Counselling for Empowerment (PEACE) Centre
  Sister Namibia
  The Rainbow Project
  Women Leadership Centre of Namibia
  
  
• NIGERIA
  Civil Resources Development & Documentation Centre (CIRRDOC)
  Concerned Professionals (CP)
  Gender Development Action (GADA)
  Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP)
  Prisoners Rehabilitation & Welfare Action (PRAWA)
  Projekthope
  Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre (WARDC)
  
  
• SENEGAL
  Amnesty International - Senegal
  Convergence Africaine pour la Democratie et les Droits Humanins (CADDU)
  
  
• SOMALIA
  Justice Watch Association (JUWA)
  National Union of Somali Journalists
  SADO
  Somali Human Rights Defenders Network
  
  
• SOMALILAND
  Samotalis Coalition for Human Rights
  Somaliland National Human Rights Network
  
  
• SOUTH AFRICA
  Action Support Centre
  Action Support Centre and Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA)
  Amnesty International - South Africa (AISA)
  Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern Africa)
  Association for Community and Rural Advancement (AnCRA)
  Association of Rural Advancement (AFRA)
  Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
  Centre for Rural Legal Studies (CRLS)
  Coalition for Peace in Africa
  Community Law Centre
  Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe
  Eastern Cape Agricultural Research Programme (ECARP)
  Free State Rural Development Association
  Heal Zimbabwe Trust
  Karoo Centre for Human Rights
  Land Access Movement of South Africa
  Land for Peace
  Lawyers for Human Rights - Stellenbosch Office
  Legal Assistance Centre
  National Land Committee (NLC)
  Nkunzi Development Association
  Peace and Democracy Project
  Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) - University of Western Cape
  Rural Legal Trust (RLT)
  South Africa National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO)
  Support Centre - ACTION for Conflict Transformation
  Southern Cape Land Committee
  Solidarity Peace Trust (SPT)
  Southern African Women's Institute of Migration Affairs
  Southern Africa Litigation Centre
  TRAC Mupumalanga
  Transkei Land Services Organisation
  Treatment Action Campaign
  Women on Farm Project
  Zimbabwe Action Support Group
  Zimbabwe Advocacy Campaign (ZAC)
  Zimbabwe Exiles Forum
  Zimbabwe Human Rights Lobby Group
  Zimbabwe Political Victims Association (ZIPOVA)
  Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project (ZTVP)
  
  
• SUDAN
  SIHA Network
  
  
• SWAZILAND
  Coordinating Assembly of NGOs (CANGO)
  Women in Law in Southen Africa - Swaziland
  
  
• TANZANIA
  BEB Rural Development Option
  Grassroot Initiative Support Trust
  Media Institute of Southern Africa - Tanzania
  Same Network of NGO/CBOs
  Tabora Development Foundation Trust
  Tabora Development Society
  Tanzania Christian Farm Development Trust
  
  
• ZAMBIA
  Anti Voters Apathy (AVAP)
  Catholic Centre for Justice Development and Peace (CCJDP)
  Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
  Children in Need (CHIN)
  Foundation for Democratic Progress (FODEP)
  Justice for Widow and Orphans
  Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
  Southern African Centre for Conflict Resolution and Disputes
  Women in Law in Southern Africa - Zambia
  Women for Change
  Zambia Association for Research and Development (ZARD)
  Zambia Civic Education Association
  
  
• ZIMBABWE
  Counselling Services Unit
  Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
  Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT)
  Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
  Media Institute of Southern Africa
  Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe
  Nonviolent Action and Strategies for Social Change
  Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ)
  University of Zimbabwe Legal Aid and Advice Scheme
  Women in Law in Southern Africa - Zimbabwe
  Women of Zimbabwe Arize (WOZA)
  Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation (ZACRO)
  Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
  Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET)
  Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
  Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
  Zimbabwe Peace Project
  
  
• INTERNATIONAL
  Amnesty International
  Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE)
  Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR)
  CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  CONNECTAS
  Cordaid
  FIAN International
  Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network
  Human Rights Watch (HRW)
  World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
  International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute
  Network for Social Justice (FAHAMU)
  Trocaire
  
  
• Endorsed by NGOs in Asia, Europe and Americas
  Amnesty International – India
  A'idun Group
  Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ)
  Arcilla Research
  Asociación Agenda Mujeres, Lima-Perú
  Asociación de la Vivienda Económica (AVE)
  Asia Pacific Socio-Economic Research Institute
  Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development (APWLD)
  Associação De Moradores Do Jardim Nova Esperança I E Ii - Sumaré/Sp – Brasil
  Associação Grão - Diversidade e Cidadania
  Association for Youth and Cultural Organisation
  Barka Foundation for Mutual Help
  C.D.D.H – Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos, Brazil
  Centre for Trade Union & Workers Services (CTWC)
  Centro de Direitos Humanos de T.Otoni
  Centro de Direitos Humanos, Brazil
  Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales/Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), Argentina
  Centro de Estudos e Ação da Mulher Urbana e Rural - Brasil
  Centro de Estudos e Defesa do Negro no Pará – CEDENPA
  Charter on Poverty Issues (Canada)
  Comité de Campaña por una vivienda Digna
  Concordamos e assinamos esta Declaração Conjunta, Brazil
  Condepe Conselho Estadual de Defesa dos Direitos da Pessoa Humana, Brazil
  Corporación Humanas de Chile
  Curitiba – Brasil
  D.D.H – Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos, Brazil
  Educational Assistance Organs Federation
  Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights (Palestine)
  Entidade APJ - Aprender Produzir Juntos
  European Roma Rights Centre , Hungary
  Faorlist e da Comissão de Direitos Humanos da Alepa
  FDDCA_ Frente de Defesa dos Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente do Vale do Mucuri;
  Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional (FASE) (Social and
  FOCO - Argentina
  Foro de Mujeres del Mercosur, Paraguay
  Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais da Bahia- Brasil
  Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais/Paraná, Brazil
  Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais/São Paulo, Brazil
  Habitat International Coalition - Latin America
  Human Rights Council
  Igreja Evangélica Projeto Vida em Volta Redonda
  Instituição: Missionárias de Jesus Crucificado, Brasil
  Instituto de Desenvolvimento e Direitos Humanos (IDDH)
  Instituto de Estudos Sócio Ambientais - IESA
  Instituto Palmas
  International Development Exchange
  LANUD – Instituto Latino Americano das Nações Unidas para a Prevenção do Delito e
  Macapá - Brasil
  MAM FUNDACIONAL, Peru
  Mines, Minerals & People (mm&P) - India
  Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos (National Human Rights Movement), Brazil
  Movimentos Sociais de Teófilo Otoni
  NASA - Núcleo de Ação Solidáira à Aids, Brazil
  National Alliance of HUD Tenants
  National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, USA
  Núcleo de Atendimento as Vítimas de crimes Violentos NAVCV
  Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, Brasil
  Organização Ser Mulher – Centro de Estudos e Ação da Mulher Urbana e Rural - Brasil
  Pastoral do Menor-Diocese de T.Otoni;
  People's Movement for Human Rights Learning (PDHRE)
  Peruvian Women Center Flora Tristan, Diverse Women Diary
  Public Against Torture in Israel
  SCANOVI - Associação de Catadores de Materiais Recicláveis Teófilo Otoni, MG-BRASIL
  Social Rights Advocacy Centre, Canada
  Tratamento do Delinqüente, Brazil
  União Geral Dos Moradores Dos Bairros Vilas E Jardins De Curitiba E Região Metropolitana -
  Vânia de Melo vValadão Cardoso
  Zimbabwe Watch