Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

Commissions Watch 4/2017 Human Rights Commission Report: on 2014 Tsholotsho Flooding 22 June A key issue for concern was that despite all these efforts the State had nevertheless not managed to fulfil its basic obligations regarding the fundamental rights of the victims affected by the floods. More still needed to be done in terms of assistance to victims to ensure the State corrected its shortcomings in fulfilling the rights of the victims to basic shelter, essential medical services and sanitation. The Commission’s Recommendations for Legislation The report’s recommendations included calls for the enactment of specific legislation on the following topics— • Right to health – the Ministry of Health and Child Care should enact domestic law that protects IDPs’ right to health, in particular providing for the protection of vulnerable groups within the IDP community such as sexual health of displaced women and psycho-social support for individuals subject to increased threat of gender-based violence and sexual assault. Such law should obligate the Ministry to provide IDPs with access to treatment rather than placing the onus on IDPs to source their own treatment. The particular health vulnerabilities that accompany displacement should be addressed by the national health legislation and policy. Comment: It will be interesting to see whether the long-awaited Public Health Bill complies with this recommendation when it is eventually unveiled for public comment. • Right to safe, clean and potable water – legislation should be enacted to ensure that IDPs within communities have access to water supplies allocated to that area by public or private authorities. • Domestication of Kampala Convention – the State should expeditiously domesticate the Kampala Convention into national legislation in a way that establishes a national framework addressing internal displacement in a comprehensive manner. Note: Zimbabwe is a full State Party to the Kampala Convention, having ratified it in November 2013. As a State Party Zimbabwe is obliged by both the Convention and our own Constitution [section 34] to have legislation incorporating the Convention into domestic law. That is what “domesticate” means. None of this legislation has been passed so far. Nor have Bills for these purposes yet reached Parliament. The Human Rights Commission’s Website Veritas recommends a visit to the website of the Human Rights Commission at http://www.zhrc.org.zw/.