Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

What Zimbabwean Women Demand in the new Constitution

Rights of women to their own sexuality and fecundity remain deeply problematic in many societies. Whether rights over personal sexuality and reproduction are classified as civil or social, they are still the subject of bitter conflict for women worldwide.

This report has been issued to coincide with the 16 days on gender activism, and concerns the organized violence and torture experienced by Zimbabwean women during the crisis that has engulfed Zimbabwe since 2000. The women described in this report have all fled Zimbabwe into exile in South Africa, and most are currently seeking political asylum.

This report, examining the violent and turbulent years between 2000 and 2006, shows that Zimbabwe has been no exception in this regard.

The pamphlet provides a summary of the Domestic Violence Act [Chapter 5:16] and explanatory notes on its application for the benefit of children, their caregivers and partners in the child rights sector.The Act was enacted on 26 February 2007 and became operational on 25 October 2007.

Child marriage remains a problem in Southern Africa due to a variety of factors. These include poverty; gender inequity; tradition; insecurity,especially in times of conflict, limited education and lack of adequate legal frameworks in Member States, most of which are inconsistent.

This paper advocates that election observation should take note of the issue of gender equality in electoral processes. Women’s full and equal participation and the integration of gender perspectives into all levels of the electoral processes enhance democratic practices in elections and for this reason, election observer missions should be prepared to render an election not free and fair on the basis of significant transgressions of the electoral rights of women.

This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu Province. Using a non-systematic convenience sample, interviews were conducted on sexual violence survivors as they presented to Panzi Hospital requesting services from the Victims of Sexual Violence Program.

The report talks about the two different forms of rape which need to be distinguished: the first, rape that occurs during actual war, and the second, politically motivated rape, which can occur outside of war situations, but is used a political tactic against a particular ethnic or political grouping. This report is concerned with the latter since it is evident that a state of war does not exist in Zimbabwe, although it could rightly be described as a “complex emergency”2.

This Report focused on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women has been prepared and submitted to the CEDAW Committee by Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC) as an Alternative Report to the 4th and 5th combined periodic report submitted by the Government of Nepal. The purpose of the report is to maintain the government accountability both inside the country and at the United Nations.

Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Sexual violence is the most pervasive form of violence in many of the conflict-ridden countries in Africa and continues to remain so, through various post-conflict stages even after the conflict has ended. Violence, particularly of a sexual nature and against women, that was characteristic of a prolonged conflict, comes to be accepted as the norm and part of the culture more so than it was prior to the conflict.

This paper is founded on two intertwined arguments. The first is that many national healing processes fail to consider the needs of the victims of violent conflict, especially women (partly because transitional justice processes are often driven by elites who proscribe and institutionalize them). The second is that, in identifying and addressing women’s needs in the national healing agenda, Zimbabwe should aim to avoid the traps of transitional justice initiatives that have focused on the human-rights violations alone.

The paper is structured in such a way which makes possible a systematic assessment of each of the relevant provisions of the draft. It will point out and commend the provisions which adequately address women’s needs but also point out any inadequacies and suggest improvements.

This report is based on the results of this study, which was done through the administration of a questionnaire prepared by RAU with a special focus on rape as a component of sexual violence. The study revealed interesting findings about how people view rape including that,Most people had a good understanding of what rape is and they based it on cultural implications.

The case emphasizes on the need to specify sexual orientation together with the nature of the Right to Equality and Non-discrimination.

This second National Gender Policy replaces the first National Gender Policy of 2004. The first National Gender Policy gave way to a range of initiatives meant to address gender inequalities. The ethos of Growth with Equity underpinned the 2004 NGP which was implemented under four thematic areas namely – (i) Women in Politics and Decision Making; (ii) Women and the Economy; (iii) Education and Training of Women; and (iv) Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women.

The Conference of Women Parliamentarians took place at the precincts of the PanAfrican Parliament in Midrand South Africa on 1st and 2nd November, 2013 under the Theme: “Parliamentarians Responding to Violence against Women and Girls in Africa, from Legislation to Effective Enforcement”.

This Bill seeks to establish a Gender Commission as provided for in section 245 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which creates an independent institution called the Zimbabwe Gender Commission. It also seeks to fulfil international and regional instruments that Zimbabwe is a party to, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and platform for Action