21 (27) More than one-third of Zimbabweans face food shortages – drought and economic crisis to blame, FOA/WFP report says, World Food Programme, 5 June 2007, http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2511. (28) Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Power and Hunger – violations of the right to food, 15 October 2004, AI Index: AFR 46/026/2004. (29) The Grain Market Board manages the country’s strategic grain reserve. In areas experiencing acute food shortage the GMB sells grain to the most vulnerable households. GMB grain is subsidized by the state and is generally affordable to many poor households. However, because of the monopolistic nature of the programme, it has been susceptible to political manipulation. The government has encouraged and allowed ruling party officials at local level to discriminate against outspoken human rights defenders, members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and members of civil society organizations. The selection for beneficiaries is usually done by local councillors, many of whom are members of Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and traditional leaders who are either forced by the local ruling party officials to leave out perceived opponents of the party or are willing to cooperate. (30) One such women’s organization is the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, a human rights organization set up to campaign for justice on behalf of their children and other relatives who "disappeared" during the years of military rule (1976 - 1983). They have earned international recognition for their activism. (31) See Amnesty International, Urgent Action, AI Index: AMR 13/013/2001. (32) In February 2000 the government lost a referendum on a new constitution. In the same year the ruling party ZANU-PF narrowly won the parliamentary election; this triggered a wave of violence which targeted members of the main opposition party, the MDC. (33) Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Power and Hunger – violations of the right to food, 15 October 2004, AI Index: AFR 46/026/2004. (34) Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Power and Hunger – violations of the right to food, 15 October 2004, AI Index: AFR 46/026/2004. (35) Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Toll of impunity, 25 June 2002 AI Index: AFR 46/034/2002. (36) UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 12, The Right to Adequate Food, E/C.12/1999/5, para 19. (37) Ibid, para 28. (38) Ibid, para 14. (39) African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, The Social and Economic Rights Action Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria, Communication No. 155/96, October 2001. (40) General Comment 12, para. 18. (41) Human Rights Committee, General Comment 18, Non-Discrimination, UN Doc. HRI\GEN1\Rev.1 at 26 (1994). (42) Amnesty International, Zimbabwe: Rights under siege, p.17, 2 May 2003, AI Index AFR 46/012/2003. (43) Sitting down and complying with police orders is one of the tactics that members of WOZA use to illustrate that they are protesting peacefully and are cooperating with the police. (44) Police seem to feel justified in ill-treating women in detention as punitive measure. Human rights defenders are subjected to systematic ill-treatment while in police custody, including verbal abuse and beatings, which in some instances amount to torture. (45) Interview with AI delegation in Bulawayo, February 2007. (46) Interview with AI delegation in Bulawayo, February 2007.