STAFF WRITER
A MATABELELAND human rights watch organisation has challenged the government to formulate a human rights based approach to development-induced evictions as the absence of such a framework is grossly violating the rights of rural women.
In a statement commemorating the 2021 International Rural Women’s Day, the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) also challenged the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Independent Constitutional Commissions to address the plight of rural women.
“As MIHR we wish to reiterate our unwavering support for the rights of rural women, especially those facing development-induced evictions in Zimbabwe. These development-evictions are affecting the potential of peasant rural women to cultivate good for all as they strip them of their peasant agricultural land and destroy their community social safety nets,” said MIHR coordinator Khumbulani Maphosa.
Maphosa also said they also reaffirm the position of the 16 September 2021 Civil Society National Solidarity Indaba on development-induced evictions which among other issues demanded that, the government of Zimbabwe fully adopt and adhere to the United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement and African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention).
The International Rural Women’s Day is a United Nations commemorative event held annually on the 15th of October.
It was declared through Resolution 62/136 of the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 2007.
The event seeks to recognize, celebrate and amplify various issues of importance relating to rural women’s rights and livelihoods.
The 2021 event is being commemorated under the theme “Rural women cultivating good food for all”, thus recognizing the essential role of rural women and girls in the food systems of the world, as well as the need to claim rural areas with equal opportunities for all.
The International Labor Organization records that rural women, make up a quarter of the world’s population, work as farmers, wage earners, and entrepreneurs and most of their work is unremunerated and their contribution to the rural economy is widely underestimated.
They further note that less than 20% of landholders worldwide are women. The United Nations further concludes that “giving women the same opportunities as men could raise agricultural production by 2.5% to 4% in the poorest regions and the number of malnourished people could be reduced by 12 to 17%”.
